


Medici Magic

by asroarke



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternative Universe - Renaissance Fair, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, POV Multiple, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:15:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 90,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asroarke/pseuds/asroarke
Summary: “Are we really going to do this again this summer?”“Are you referring to me giving you legitimate critiques and you not being able to handle it correctly? Because if so, I really hope not. I would have hoped that we had evolved past that kind of pettiness,” he joked.Renaissance Fair AU where our favorite delinquents spend their summer working for Medici Magic, a travelling renaissance fair.





	1. You're Doing It Wrong

“What time is he getting here?” Roan asked her, lying on top of her bed. Clarke was unpacking her suitcase and he was being absolutely no help at all, despite promising her that he would help.

She threw the last of her underwear in the bottom drawer, making sure to leave two drawers empty for Octavia for when she arrived. “He said he would be here an hour ago, but he might have hit traffic or something. Check my phone to see if he texted.” She was almost done with her suitcase. All that was left was her sketchbook and a couple of snacks that she stuck in there in case she didn’t have time to go grocery shopping right away.

Roan rolled over onto his stomach to reach over to the nightstand and grab her phone. “No texts from Wells. But, Octavia has sent you four texts in the last hour,” he said with his eyebrows raised. “Also, two from your mom and one from Jasper.” Clarke stuck her box of granola bars in the cabinet before coming back into the bedroom and snatching her phone from Roan. She looked through the messages. Her mom wanted confirmation that she had gotten there safely, which Clarke couldn’t help but roll her eyes at. Jasper texted to tell her that he had arrived and wanted to come over. And Octavia was live-texting her drive with Bellamy… which was apparently long and boring.

“You cool if Jasper comes over?” Clarke asked, already texting Jasper back that it was okay. Roan nodded, before burying his face into Clarke’s pillow. The poor guy made the drive all by himself and looked just exhausted. Clarke also drove to Arkadia by herself, but made a million stops along the way and didn’t have as far to drive.

“Is Wells as cool as you say he is?” Clarke rolled her eyes, before slamming her suitcase shut and sliding it under her bed.

“He’s my best friend during the school year. You’re my best friend at Medici Magic. The two of you will get along just fine,” she said for what felt like the millionth time. Last summer, she got a job at Medici Magic, a travelling renaissance fair that took place during the summer. She joined halfway through the summer, right after her father died. She wanted an excuse to get away from her house and all those people who just looked at her with a sorry expression. So, she took the very first job she could find and took off to meet the rest of the crew at Tondc.

There, she met Roan and Octavia, who became two of her closest friends and helped her forget about all the horrible things that had been going on back home. This place had become a safe haven where no one knew anything about what her life was like and what all she had been through. When Wallace offered her a spot again this year, she jumped at the opportunity and bullied Wells into joining her.

“Knock knock!” Jasper shouted as he barged into Clarke’s little apartment. Roan rolled off her bed to sprint toward the living room and smother Jasper in a huge bear hug. Clarke followed behind quickly, giggling to herself. She had missed this.

“Jasper!” she shouted back, joining in on the group hug.

“Where all the booze at?” Jasper joked, pulling away from the hug.

“I’m going to make a beer run once more people get here and we know how much to get,” Roan reassured, patting Jasper on the back.

“Where the fuck is everyone?” Jasper asked, plopping himself down on Clarke’s couch.

“Octavia and Bellamy are almost here and Miller is in Roan’s room unpacking. I think everyone else is going to be new,” Clarke explained, going back to her room to grab her phone to check her texts. Octavia told her they were pulling up now. “Come on, Octavia and Bellamy just pulled in,” she said, pulling Roan and Jasper toward the door. The three of them ran down the stairs and moved toward the parking lot to greet them. A few minutes pass and they see Bellamy’s truck pull up to the building.

Bellamy hardly gets the car in park before Octavia jumps out of the passenger side and sprints toward Clarke and mauls her in a hug.

“I’ve missed you so much!” Octavia almost shouted.

“I’ve missed you too, O,” Clarke replied, not even trying to calm her smile down. She didn’t realize just how much she had missed Octavia until this very moment.

“I have great news,” she said, smiling ear to ear. She didn’t let go of Clarke, but pulled away enough so that Clarke could see her face. “I got into Ark U! We’re going to be classmates in the fall!” Clarke and Octavia both started screaming, jumping up and down together while the boys muttered something about being happy for her or something. Clarke wasn’t really paying attention. All she cared about was that she didn’t have to say goodbye to Octavia at the end of the summer.

Eventually, she heard Bellamy jump out of the truck and walk over to them. He pulled Roan into a side hug before turning to do the same to Jasper.

“I just told them the news!” Octavia shouted at Bellamy, who smiled softly back at her.

“That’s great, but can we continue this conversation after we’ve hauled all of our stuff upstairs?” He looked mildly annoyed, probably exhausted from the long drive. Roan and Jasper moved toward the truck to help them unload, but Clarke stayed beside Octavia who was going on and on about how fun it will be to be roommates this summer and how much she had been looking forward to it. “O!” Bellamy shouted, suddenly sounding even more annoyed that she wasn’t being helpful. Octavia turned around to walk toward the truck.

Roan handed Clarke a suitcase that had to weigh a hundred pounds. She started to drag it up the stairs, following Bellamy’s lead. Once she reached the top, she had to stop to catch her breath.

“Out of shape, princess?” he asked with a smirk on her face. God, she wanted to smack that smug look right off his face.

“No. This is Octavia’s suitcase. Anyone would be out of breath after carrying it up three flights of stairs,” she snapped, dragging the suitcase right past him toward her room, hearing him chuckle. Great, this summer wasn’t going to be any different than the last when it came to this asshole. He was the same smug jackass who was constantly picking fights with Clarke. She couldn’t help but notice how he didn’t even bother to greet her once he stepped out of the truck. She just prayed that he would avoid her like that for the rest of the summer. That, she could handle.

Helping Octavia unpack took forever. It didn’t help that she packed two suitcases and kept taking breaks to gossip with Clarke. Apparently, Octavia Facebook stalked a lot of the new people. And, of course, she felt the need to share everything she learned with Clarke.

Before long, Wells had finally gotten there and unpacked. He was rooming with two guys named Monty and Atom. From the brief conversations she had with them, Clarke thought they were pretty nice. The returners from the previous year had all gathered in Roan’s room and Clarke dragged Wells there to introduce him to her friends.

“You have got to have embarrassing stories about Clarke,” Jasper prodded, throwing back the rest of his beer.

“What kind of embarrassing are we talking about?” Wells asked, smirking over at Clarke. Clarke was in between Wells and Roan, both of whom were on the tipsy side of things. She had decided to stay sober, especially considering how early they all had to get up tomorrow. They were going to spend the next few days setting up the fair and rehearsing performances.

“Like enough that we can tease Clarke but not so much that she murders you in her sleep,” Octavia chimed in, throwing a teasing glance over at Clarke. She rolled her eyes.

“In second grade, she had an imaginary friend. And it wasn’t like those imaginary friends that everyone has. No, this one had a huge backstory and other friends who I assume were also imaginary. What was his name?” Wells teased.

“Robert had a very active social life, Wells,” Clarke joked. “He wasn’t going to hang out with me all the time. He needed other friends.” Jasper burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to need more details,” Miller said, struggling to keep a straight face.

“So, it started because Clarke was trying to get out of going to this kid’s birthday party. She said she had other plans with Robert, who I knew was not a real person like immediately,” Wells explained. Clarke threw her head back, wondering why she didn’t expect this to happen. She literally brought her childhood best friend here and didn’t consider for a moment that he would gossip about her to her other friends. “I called her out on the lie, but she totally double-downed on it. He apparently went to the private school across town and they had met playing soccer when they were five.”

“Okay, but there was a guy I played soccer with named Robert!” Clarke argued, playfully slapping Wells’ shoulder.

“But, I know you didn’t keep in touch with him!” Wells snapped back, and Clarke noticed that the rest of the group was listening very intensely to this story. Even Bellamy seemed amused. “Anyway, Robert became her excuse to get out of anything she didn’t want to do over the years. She even lied and said he was her boyfriend back in tenth grade.”

“That’s not fair. I lied so that Rick would stop asking me out.”

“You could have just said no,” Wells pointed out, and Clarke could hear Jasper chuckling in the background.

“I did! He was being creepy though. So, I lied and it worked. He left me alone. It’s not my fault that creepy guys only leave you alone if they think you have a boyfriend,” she argued, knowing full well that they have had this argument many times. She was going to spare the rest of the group her feminist rant about the hoops women have to jump through just to not hurt a man’s feelings.

“That’s literally my favorite story about you ever,” Octavia said, slurring her words a little.

Wells fit into their little group perfectly. Everyone got a little bit drunk, except her and Bellamy. She knew he wasn’t drinking so that he could keep an eye on Octavia. He was always very protective of her, which Clarke kind of understood. It was the only thing the two of them had in common. Jasper headed back to his room to meet his new roommates and Wells followed suit. Miller and Roan headed off to their rooms as Bellamy cleaned up. Clarke helped Octavia back to their room, thankful that their third roommate wouldn’t arrive until later on in the summer. She was excited to get some one-on-one time with Octavia for a little while.

The next morning was rough on the returners, Clarke noticed. Jasper and Octavia were clearly hungover and really not being helpful. Clarke got to work setting up the tents behind the stage. Some guy named Finn was helping her… or at least he was trying to. He was really bad about forgetting to secure each leg of the tent before moving on to the next one, which lead to tents constantly falling on Clarke.

“I’m really sorry. I don’t know how I keep messing that up,” he rambled quickly, clearly feeling bad about repeatedly letting the tent collapse on Clarke.

“Honestly, it’s fine. If you want, you can work on putting together the stage while I finish this up,” she explained, not even glancing up at him. She was too focused on getting these tents up so that she could start unloading the costumes and props. Plus, the sooner the tents were all up, the sooner she could get out of the sun. Finn grumbled over to the stage, leaving Clarke in the peace and quiet. He was nice, she thought. But, he never stopped talking and it was just too hot and too early to deal with.

She finished the first tent, before starting on the second one. Then, she heard the most annoying voice in the world.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Bellamy pointed out. She snapped her head around to look at him. He was leaning up against a tree, smirking at her.

“Shouldn’t you be putting together the bleachers?” she snapped, turning her attention back to the tent.

“I put Murphy and Atom on that,” he replied coolly, walking over to her and taking the leg out of her hand. She snapped her head back at him, shooting him an annoyed glare.

“Are we really going to do this again this summer?”

“Are you referring to me giving you legitimate critiques and you not being able to handle it correctly? Because if so, I really hope not. I would have hoped that we had evolved past that kind of pettiness,” he joked as Clarke snatched the leg back out of his hand.

“You don’t see me coming over to where you’re supposed to be working to criticize you!” she snapped, a little too loudly. She glanced around, not seeing anyone else but Finn nearby. Good, she thought. She didn’t need everyone at the fair knowing that they were fighting like this still.

“Actually, I came over here to help you since it looks like Prince Charming over there isn’t used to manual labor,” he smirked, nodding his head in the direction of Finn. “Wouldn’t want the princess to get injured just because no one was helping her.” She stopped working on the tent to glare at Bellamy.

“Do not call me that,” she snapped, not breaking eye contact.

“But, it suits you so well,” he smirked. “So, can I actually help you or would you rather argue with me all day?”

“Fine. But, don’t talk to me,” she muttered, hating that he was probably right. She wasn’t tall enough to really be able to do this by herself. And, he would be so much more helpful than Finn.

“Ouch. You know that talking to you is my favorite part of the day,” he said sarcastically, before actually starting to help her.

The two of them managed to get all the tents by the stage set up before Wallace walked by to check on them. Finn was much more helpful when it came to setting up all of props and unpacking the costumes. Bellamy eventually went back to his little corner of the fair to check up on how Murphy and Atom were doing.

“What’s his deal?” Finn asked once he left.

“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling out some of the scripts and looking for a good place to put them.

“Bellamy. Like do you like him or hate him?”

“Hate him. But, most people don’t feel the same way. He’s pretty cool around Miller and Roan. And he’s sweet to his sister. But, he’s always been a dick to me. We fought all last summer,” she explained, hoping that he wouldn’t have any more questions.

“I think he hates me.” Clarke glanced up to try and make sense of Finn’s annoyed expression. Bellamy probably didn’t like him much, she thought. He made his mind up about Clarke very quickly and she could see him doing the same with Finn.

“I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it,” she replied coolly before stepping out of the tent.

The rest of the day went by pretty easily, despite a few injuries from some of the new people who weren’t used to using hammers and accidentally hit their thumbs. Once Clarke was done setting up the stage, she went over to help Harper with the first aid station. Everything was starting to come together, even if it was a little slower than last year. There were a lot of new people who seemed to need a lot of guidance. But, they still had a few more days until they officially opened.

Once she got back to her apartment, Clarke was aching all over. It had been a long time since she had to be on her feet that much. She really wasn’t conditioned to carry that much heavy stuff… especially not in that heat. She tossed her tennis shoes off and remembered to be grateful for modern footwear. She knew that in just a few days she would be back to wearing era appropriate clothing that was way too hot and uncomfortable to be legal.

“What did you think of that new guy Atom?” Octavia prodded, leaning toward Clarke on the couch.

“Didn’t get a chance to talk to him much. But, he seems nice,” Clarke muttered, knowing exactly where Octavia was going with this.

“Oh, he was so helpful. He helped me unpack all of the liquor without me even asking. He’s really sweet.”

“Octavia, this is not a good idea,” she warned, remembering how badly her relationships from last summer went.

“I’m not going to do anything. He’s just cute. That’s all,” she said defensively. Clarke rolled her eyes. She gave it a week before the two of them were all over each other all the time.

“Bellamy isn’t going to like this,” Clarke pointed out, throwing her head back into the couch.

“Bell will get over it. Anyway, that’s not the only thing that happened today,” Octavia said, sitting up to face Clarke. “Finn has been asking about you.” Clarke’s head snapped up.

“What did you tell him?” she asked a little too defensively.

“That you don’t date,” Octavia said with a smile. Clarke let out a breath that she didn’t even realize she had been holding. “He looked really disappointed.” Clarke rolled her eyes. Octavia was definitely reading too much into this.

“How sad,” Clarke muttered, going into the kitchen.

“You can’t tell me that you don’t find him attractive,” Octavia said, following Clarke.

“He’s cute. But, not my type,” Clarke tried to blow this off. He really did seem sweet, she thought. But, she didn’t come back this year to meet a guy. She came to get away from the drama of her normal life… which included her mess of a dating life.

“Knock knock!” Jasper said as he walked right into her living room with Finn and Murphy. Speak of the devil, Clarke thought.

“Oooh, is it time to start drinking?” Octavia asked excitedly, as Jasper held up a six pack. They all started talking about tomorrow and opened their bottles. Clarke tried to ignore the constant glances from Finn before deciding to just slip out the door. She walked down the hall to Roan’s room… only to have Bellamy answer the door. Oh right, she reminded herself, they were rooming together.

“Roan here?” she asked, in the most civil tone she could manage. He nodded, opening the door to let her in.

“Clarke!” Roan shouted, patting the seat next to him on the couch. She plopped down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Octavia driving you crazy already?” Bellamy joked, as he sat down in the arm chair and flipped through the channels.

“No, she’s great. But, Jasper came over with Murphy and Finn and I didn’t really feel like hanging with all of them,” she replied, hoping they wouldn’t read too much into it. She didn’t know Murphy yet. Plus, she wanted to pace herself with Jasper. She was going to be working with him a lot this summer and didn’t want to get burned out already.

“Figures. Finn asked me about you,” Roan added with a cautious tone, knowing what kind of reaction that could elicit from Clarke.

“Of fucking course, he did,” she snapped while rolling her eyes. Miller and Bellamy started laughing hysterically as Roan gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. The guys settled on watching some hockey game and Wells came over. The five of them stayed in that living room until the game was over. Then, simultaneously, starting groaning when they remembered that they had to finish setting up in the morning. Clarke was already incredibly sore. Tomorrow might just kill her.


	2. I Know You've Dreamt About Punching Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got this one done sooner than I expected. Let me know what you guys think!

“You’re snarling,” Miller whispered, causing Bellamy to snap out of his glare. He was glaring over at Atom, who had not stopped flirting with Octavia all day.

“I am not,” he muttered back, lying back down on the grass, covering his eyes with his arm.

“He seems like an okay guy,” Miller suggested, and Bellamy realized that he was probably overreacting. It was no secret that he was a bit of an overprotective brother. But, something about Atom rubbed him the wrong way and his gut was almost never wrong about people.

“Do you not remember how many times Octavia got her heart broken last summer? This won’t end well,” he snapped, sitting back up. He looked back over at them. Octavia kept putting her hand on his shoulder, telling Bellamy that there was no way he was reading too much into this.

“Maybe this one will be different,” Miller added with a shrug. Bellamy was sure that Miller didn’t want to have this conversation with him again. They had it last night and earlier that morning. Bellamy started to get up, realizing that he had been resting for a little too long and they had one more truck to unload. He held out his hand to help Miller get up.

When they got to the truck, Wells and Roan were already hard at work unloading it. “Can we not trick some of the new guys into doing this for us?” Roan joked to Miller as he handed him one of the smaller crates.

“I mean, isn’t that what you did to me?” Wells shouted from the back of the truck. Miller and Roan burst out laughing. Wells went to hand him a few bags and Bellamy snatched them out of his hands without a word. He probably came off a little passive aggressive but didn’t really care. He was annoyed at a lot of different people at the moment, and Wells wasn’t exactly his favorite person.

He headed back to the arena to drop off the bag before walking back, only to run into Wells, who was carrying the rest of the bags. “You don’t like me,” he said, matter of fact. Bellamy stopped in his tracks. If he was being honest, he really didn’t know Wells. All he knew is that Wells was Clarke’s best friends and that he seemed just as privileged.

“I never said that.”

“Didn’t have to. Not sure what I could have done or said in the last twenty-four hours to make you dislike me. But, whatever it was, I apologize,” Wells said, smirking at Bellamy, before brushing past him. Bellamy turned to watch him walk away, confused as to what just happened. He wasn’t sure if he should be pissed off or impressed by how Wells casually confronted him. He walked back to the truck, where Miller and Roan were almost done. He placed two of the remaining crates on the dolly before dragging them toward the medical tent.

Harper was busy organizing the cabinets and Finn was talking her ear off. Bellamy rolled his eyes, wondering how long he would be able to go without punching this kid in the face. Every conversation he had with Finn was obnoxious… like Finn could only talk to other people like he was talking down to them. He loved to brag about his knowledge of Shakespeare and Bellamy couldn’t help but correct him when he was wrong. He could tell that he had gotten under Finn’s skin, based on how Finn couldn’t help but shoot him a glare whenever he walked into the room, even now.

He started to ask why he wasn’t helping Clarke but quickly thought better of it. She probably sent him away so she could get some damn peace and quiet, and Bellamy couldn’t blame her.

He walked out of the medical tent and looked around. Their little fair seemed to be coming together. All the tents were up and everyone was busy unpacking and settling in. Tomorrow would be a lot of rehearsals and technical tests. He would have to teach all the new guys how to fake the duels in the arena, which he wasn’t looking forward to. Jasper was trying out his new material on the stage, which Bellamy couldn’t wait to watch. That guy was too funny to be real.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Clarke on the phone, pacing behind the stage. Of fucking course, she was already on her phone and not doing her damn job. He started marching toward her, when she glanced up and caught his eye. She had a frustrated look on her face and stuck up a hand to Bellamy to signal him to not bother her. He didn’t really care, as he continued toward her once her back was turned.

“I know that I told you I was coming back this year,” she snapped at whoever she was talking to. Bellamy sat down on one of the benches, not even trying to be quiet. He then cleared his throat, which Clarke did not respond to. “I know I’m going to miss it, but can you really blame me?” He glanced over at their “tavern” that Octavia was working on. He didn’t see Atom anywhere nearby, which he took as a good sign. Maybe he was actually doing his job, for once.

“I’m not being selfish!” she practically shouted into the phone, which caught his attention. He studied her more closely, noticing how tense her entire body seemed. Her outburst seemed to have caught more people’s attention, he realized, as Wells marched over toward them and shot Bellamy a concerned look.

“Who is it?” Wells asked, grabbing Clarke’s shoulder.

“My mother,” she mouthed, as Bellamy could hear the muffled sound of her mother shouting through the phone. Wells snatched the phone out of Clarke’s hand.

“Hi, Mrs. Griffin. This is Wells,” he said calmly, and the shouting on the other end suddenly came to a screeching halt. Clarke took a step back, running her fingers through her hair, looking absolutely exhausted. “Yes, I understand your concerns,” he said in a patronizing tone. Okay, Wells was starting to grow on Bellamy. Octavia had started to head toward them, but luckily no one else came close.

Wells glanced up at Clarke, clenching his jaw at whatever it was that the older Griffin was saying. Clarke shot him a pleading look, before laying herself down on one of the benches, covering her face with her arm.

“Perhaps you could understand why Clarke wouldn’t want to be home on the 22nd\---“ Wells continued, before being cut off. A frustrated and angry expression started to take over Wells’ face.

“What is going on?” Octavia whispered into Bellamy’s ear, and he just shrugged in response. He probably should have gotten up to leave… this seemed kind of private. But, he kind of wanted to see how this would all work out.

“Well, Mrs. Griffin. Maybe you should consider that your daughter doesn’t want to be around you and your new boyfriend on the one year anniversary of her father’s death,” Wells snapped before hanging up the phone. Clarke snapped up, shooting Wells a shocked look. Bellamy snapped his jaw shut once he realized that it had been dropped since Wells started talking. Clarke stood up suddenly, and he and Octavia shared a confused look. This was the first either of them had heard about her father… which was weird since they knew her last summer. That was something that normal people would mention.

“Clarke,” Wells said, suddenly backtracking on how he snapped at her mother.

Clarke directed her attention at Bellamy, which he found alarming and disconcerting. “Bellamy,” she started without a hint of emotion in her face. “I am sorry I was on the phone instead of working. I promise it won’t happen again,” she snapped, before taking off for the backstage tents.

“Clarke!” Wells shouted as he chased after her.

“What the fuck just happened?” Bellamy asked, knowing that his face was oozing with confusion. Octavia looked just as thrown. “Did you know about any of that?” She shook her head, looking over her shoulder. Finn and Monty were also watching that whole outburst unfold, looking equally confused.

“Why didn’t she say anything to us?” Octavia asked, in almost a whisper.

“Well, she hates me. So, that’s why she didn’t tell me,” he replied, which Octavia rolled her eyes at.

“She wouldn’t hate you if you weren’t such an ass to her all the time,” she snapped, starting to stand up. Now, it was Bellamy’s turn to roll his eyes. That girl would hate him regardless.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Murphy was getting on his nerves, constantly asking stupid questions about the swords. Other than the speaker system which Monty was still working on, the little fair was pretty much complete. All they had to do was test everything out before they could open for business.

He agreed to go out to a bar with Jasper… which was a mistake. He forgot to ask who all was coming. Which is how he found himself sitting across from Finn and trying his damn best to not smack the smug look of this kid’s face.

“Honestly, be glad you weren’t here last year,” Jasper said to Finn. “There was this dick named Dax who caused all sorts of shit.” Bellamy couldn’t help but groan at the mention of that guy’s name. He had forgotten about him.

“Like what?”

“Where do we even fucking begin,” Bellamy groaned, finishing his beer.

“What are you more mad about? That he snagged Roma from you or that he was the reason you got so badly injured?” Jasper asked with a sarcastic tone.

“The injury. I hardly knew Roma.”

“Wait, how did he injure you?” Monty asked curiously.

“So, almost everything we do in the arena is fake. That’s so none of us get injured. All the duels and jousted are highly choreographed. I was never supposed to fall off my horse and he fucking went for it. And, since I wasn’t prepared for it, I didn’t land correctly and it fucked up my back for the rest of the summer,” Bellamy groaned, wondering if any of this year’s idiots would try to pull a stunt like that. Miller knew better, but he didn’t know about Atom or Murphy.

“Wait, those are all choreographed? I thought they were authentic,” Finn said with a judgmental tone.

“It’s to reduce the possibility of injuries and to not wear us out so that we can still do other tasks when we’re not fighting,” Bellamy explained, trying to not sound condescending.

“Plus, like nothing at this fair is actually authentic,” Jasper pointed out. Ugh, Bellamy agreed. He couldn’t stop being frustrated at how many costumes were incredibly inaccurate or how none of the food even resembled things that would be possible all those years ago. He had pointed this out to Wallace a dozen times, but he blew him off. As long as they made money, it didn’t matter how much of a mess the damn fair was.

“Well, at least the plays will be authentic,” Finn argued, earning yet another eye roll.

“I don’t know how authentic performances that require mics can be,” Monty muttered into his drink, forcing a chuckle out of Bellamy. Finn opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it.

As the four of them walked back to the apartments, Jasper shared gossip about the returners with Monty and Finn.

“I honestly don’t know much about Roan. He seems really close with Clarke, but I haven’t gotten any actual dirt on him yet,” Jasper explained, having already covered Miller’s relationship drama from last summer. Bellamy couldn’t help but notice that he avoided the subject of Octavia altogether, probably afraid to say anything with him around.

“What about Clarke? What’s her deal?” Finn asked. Of fucking course, he asked about Clarke. It seemed like every guy who came through Medici Magic had an initial crush on that girl. Sure, she was pretty so he could kind of understand it. But, there were a lot of pretty girls at Medici. He didn’t get why every guy seemed to gravitate toward her.

“She goes to Ark U and is studying art,” Jasper explained. Bellamy didn’t know she was studying art… but to be honest they never really talked about their personal lives. They were usually fighting over who was screwing up their job at that moment in time. “She’s really close with Roan and Octavia but totally hates Bellamy.” Bellamy nodded in agreement, barely covering up his smirk. “She’s really closed off about her personal life. But, we’re Facebook friends so I’ve stalked her. She got out of what looks like a messy relationship six months ago. She doesn’t seem to have much family. She’s also kind of obsessed with Buzzfeed quizzes.”

The four of them finally approached the apartments, noticing how Octavia and Atom were snuggled up on a bench outside her room. He marched ahead of Jasper and Finn, not really caring anymore about this gossip session. He shot Octavia a warning look, before walking past her toward his room.

He really did not like that relationship. He tried throughout the day to convince himself that it could end up alright… but he knew his sister. This guy was just like every other guy who tossed her aside. He wasn’t just going to be okay with her throwing herself into the same situation all over again.

He threw his keys onto the coffee table, before throwing himself onto the couch. Miller was sitting in the armchair, watching some sitcom. “Enjoying your new drinking buddies?” he asked, with a smirk.

“If Finn says another damn thing about his Shakespearian training, I’m going to strangle him,” he muttered into the pillow.

“Just so you know, Clarke is in our apartment, in Roan’s room.”

“Why the fuck would I care?”

“I’m just asking that for once you aren’t a dick to her,” Miller grumbled.

“Since when are you two friends?” he snapped. Miller glared at him in response.

“Believe it or not, you are not my only friend, jackass,” he snapped, before heading over to the kitchen. He slumped back in, holding two beers and slamming one down in front of Bellamy.

“You guys!” Jasper shouted as he barged in. “We’re going to start playing drinking games over in my room. Want in?” Miller groaned as soon as he said drinking games, which Bellamy couldn’t help but chuckle at. None of them really needed to be getting drunk this often this early in the summer.

“I think we’re good,” Bellamy replied with a smile, not wanting to hurt Jasper’s feelings.

“Go ask Roan and Clarke,” Miller suggested, turning his attention back to the tv. Bellamy groaned, as he stood up, suddenly remembering just how sore he was.

Roan’s door was open, and Bellamy leaned against the doorway as he watched Roan and Clarke. He had on those boxing mitts that people punched into, as Clarke kept hitting his hands harder and harder. She had good form, Bellamy noticed.

“Jasper wanted to know if you guys wanted to join them for drinking games,” Bellamy announced, suddenly drawing their attention.

“Are you going to be okay if I go?” Roan asked, with a concerned look on his face. Clarke nodded for him to go, as Roan took the mitts off.

Roan stepped around Bellamy, as Clarke went to grab her phone.

“Need something else to beat up, princess?” Bellamy asked with a smirk. She immediately shot him an angry glare.

“I’m not in the mood, Bellamy,” she snapped, turning her back toward him. He went to pick up the mitts off Roan’s bed.

“Come on. I know you’ve dreamt about punching me,” he joked, trying to get that scowl off her face. He thought he had seen her upset before… God knows he has certainly done his share of pissing her off. But, this was different. It was almost terrifying.

“Fine,” she snapped, making her way back toward him. He secured his mitts before putting his hands up for her. She punched his left hand first, and, boy, did he underestimate how hard she could punch. The first few knocked him back a bit. “What’s the matter, Blake? Can’t keep up with me?” she smirked cockily. There we go, he thought. This was the Clarke he remembered.

“Just getting warmed up, princess,” he smirked. That earned him a harder punch into his right hand, which actually hurt when she knocked his wrist back.

“You know I hate that fucking nickname,” she muttered, not even making eye contact with him. She hit him a few more times, but it was clear she was starting to get tired.

“You good?” he asked when she took a short break to catch her breath. Just then, he heard Wells and Finn in the other room with Miller. Wells was asking if Clarke was there, and he could see Clarke tense up before surprising him by throwing a few more punches. “What has gotten the princess so pissed off?” he asked her, earning a few more punches, each one harder than the last.

“Don’t,” was all she said in response.

“Maybe I should be fighting you in the arena,” he tried to joke, as she threw a final punch, which caught his left wrist off guard. Damn, that girl could really do some damage, he thought.

She started to walk to the door, before muttering, “Like you could take me,” and he couldn’t help but laugh at that. He followed her into the living room, where Miller, Finn, and Wells looked quite comfortable. Clarke marched out the front door without even acknowledging them.

“Dude, what did you do?” Miller snapped.

“Not a damn thing. I was pretty nice,” he said defensively.

“Yeah, that probably wasn’t his fault,” Wells added with a somber face. “She’s not happy with me at the moment.” Ah, that made a lot more sense, Bellamy realized. The two of them were probably in a fight over whatever the fuck happened on the phone earlier.

“What happened?” Miller asked, apparently clueless over what transpired earlier.

“Basically, I intervened in an argument she was having with her mom, which Clarke didn’t mind. But, I kind of overshared about her life in front of a bunch of people accidentally, and that’s why she’s pissed,” Wells explained.

That made sense, Bellamy thought to himself, as he went to the fridge to grab another beer. She was a pretty private person, from what he could tell. And he only knew that because he knew basically nothing about her, except for what Octavia shared… which all things considered wasn’t much.

“I’m sure she’ll come around,” Finn tried to reassure.

Wells started chuckling. “Clearly, you do not know Clarke. She can hold a grudge like no other.” Bellamy unexpectedly burst out laughing, caught off guard by how true that was. Miller shot him a look, but Wells just laughed along with him. Clarke Griffin was many things. But, she was not the kind of girl who easily forgave. If someone wanted her forgiveness, they would have to work their ass off to get it.

“She still hasn’t forgiven Jasper for accidentally stabbing her with the stage knife last summer,” Miller joked, and the room suddenly felt lighter.

“She didn’t speak to me for a month back in ninth grade when I picked Gina as my lab partner over her,” Wells reminisced, laughing to himself. Okay, maybe Bellamy had been wrong about Wells. This guy was alright.

“Oh, come on. She can’t be that bad,” Finn jumped in.

Bellamy shook his head. “Just be careful. She doesn’t do a lot of second chances.” Miller and Wells grumbled in agreement. The four of them hung out in the living room for at least another hour before Jasper and Roan stumbled in drunk.

“Shhh. Jasper. Remember to use your inside voice,” Roan reminded in a very loud whisper.

“Alright, let’s get you to bed,” Finn suggested to Jasper, who scrunched his face together.

“Fuck that. I’m gonna stay up all night!” he shouted, as he stumbled into the kitchen table and knocked over a chair.

Then, Bellamy heard someone bang on his wall. “You’re waking people up,” he warned.

“They need to wake the fuck up!” Jasper shouted back, banging back on the wall.

“Shut the fuck up, Jasper!” he heard Clarke shout through the wall, still banging on it.

“Oh, fuck. I didn’t mean to wake up her,” Jasper whispered with a scared look on his face. Wells burst out laughing as Finn started to lead Jasper toward the door.

Roan came over and slung his arm around Bellamy’s shoulders. “Were you nice to my Clarkey?” he asked, slurring his words a bit.

“A perfect gentleman, as always,” he smirked. Roan removed his arm and threw his head back.

“Ugh, just bang already and get it over with,” he groaned, as he marched toward his room.

“The fuck?” Bellamy asked, brows furrowed. What the actual fuck? They hated each other. Ugh, drunk Roan was the worst.

“He said bang her already. And, when I say this, just know that I am speaking for literally every other person that works here. You two need to get that sexual tension out of the way for the good of everyone else here,” Miller snapped, and Bellamy threw a pillow at him, spilling his beer.

“You are not a good friend,” Bellamy snapped, trying to ignore whatever the hell that just was.

“I’m your best friend, jackass,” Miller pointed out, getting up to clean the spilled beer. Bellamy threw his head back, groaning. He was tired of people suggesting he had a thing for Clarke. They did this all last summer, and it drove him fucking insane. They very clearly couldn’t stand each other. God, last summer he almost crashed his truck because he and Clarke were fighting so aggressively about what station to keep the radio on. Wallace even adjusted their hours to minimize the amount of time they were working at the same time. He couldn’t stand her and she couldn’t stand him. That’s just how it was.

“Fuck you,” he muttered.

“No, fuck Clarke. You’re not my type,” Miller smirked and Bellamy stormed off toward his room. Ugh, fuck all of them.


	3. So You Think I'm Pretty?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a little longer than expected. I started a new job and haven't quite figured out a good schedule for cranking out these chapters yet. Anyway, thanks for your feedback so far! Clarke's POV is next!

When she turned over and saw the alarm clock, Octavia knew she was fucked. “Why didn’t your alarm go off?” she shouted, smacking Atom. She rolled out of bed and tried to remember where she tossed her jeans last night.

“Oh fuck,” he murmured groggily, sitting up in bed. “I accidentally set it for PM instead of AM,” he explained, taking his time getting up. Ugh, men, Octavia thought. It didn’t really matter if his morning prep time was cut in half. All he had to do was get cleaned up and throw clothes on. Octavia had way more to do, in addition to the fact that she had promised Clarke to help her with her makeup. She was fucked.

She stumbled around on one foot while she tried to slide her other foot into her sneaker. “You’re lucky you’re pretty. It’s the only thing keeping me from being pissed at you,” she muttered, finally getting the shoe on her foot.

“Oh, so you think I’m pretty?” Atom smirked at her, holding out her t-shirt for her. She grabbed it and threw it over her head before rolling her eyes and walking out the door.

When Octavia got back to her apartment, Clarke was already dressed and eating breakfast. “So, how was the sex?” she asked with a smirk.

“Follow me and I’ll tell you all about it, you pervert,” she replied, gesturing for Clarke to go with her into her room. Octavia went to lay out her dress, before she started undressing. Clarke plopped down on her bed, holding her bowl of cereal. She was wearing a simple pale blue gown, which was one of her favorites from last year, Octavia remembered. She was lucky that most of her costumes didn’t come with corsets… which were the bane of Octavia’s existence.

“Are you not going to shower?” Clarke asked.

“Don’t have time. Plus, Atom and I took a very long shower last night,” Octavia replied, winking in Clarke’s direction, before pulling her brown and gold dress over her head. Clarke was shaking her head and smiling.

This was nice, Octavia thought. The last few days of prep work have been kind of weird and tense. It had been a while since she and Clarke had a normal conversation.

“Hey, um, I’m sorry about the other day,” she said, putting her bowl down on the end table.

“What do you mean?” she asked, walking into the bathroom to start on her makeup. Clarke followed and sat up on the counter next to her.

“I didn’t tell you about what happened to my dad… which was weird.”

“Weird, yes. But, it’s your story to tell and I’m sorry I found out before you wanted me to,” Octavia replied, starting her eyeliner.

“I took this job because I wanted to get away from all the people who felt sorry for me. I just didn’t want anyone here to treat me like all of them did. That’s the only reason I never said anything,” Clarke elaborated, putting her hand on Octavia’s shoulder. She could understand all of that. She remembered how it was when her mom died. She couldn’t fault Clarke for wanting to keep her past to herself.

“Well, in brighter news, your hair looks fucking fantastic,” Octavia changed the subject. It wasn’t a lie. Clarke had one of those flower headbands in her hair, which was beautifully waved.

“I slept in braids last night to get these waves. I’m liking how they turned out,” she said, smile returning to her face. “My eye makeup on the other hand needs some work…”

Once Octavia got her makeup and hair done, she fixed Clarke’s eyeliner. She also shared way too many details about spending the night with Atom, not that Clarke minded. She seemed really interested in how that relationship was going, which Octavia was grateful for. It was a welcome surprise after how against the relationship Bellamy had been.

“Are you nervous about today?” she asked Clarke. In truth, Octavia was a little nervous herself. Sure, she had done all of this last summer. But, it had been a whole year. And, she was in charge of the tavern this year.

“Honestly, no. Finn has been incredible in rehearsals and is kind of carrying the performances. We’re going to be fine,” she replied, putting her shoes on.

“Ah, so Finn is the reason you’re not nervous,” Octavia smirked at her. She knew she had been right about them.

“It’s not like that,” Clarke shook her head, grabbing her bag and heading toward Octavia by the door. Octavia rolled her eyes and the two of them started heading toward the fair.

 

Her morning was pretty boring, since most people wait to start drinking until after lunch. Throughout the day, some of her coworkers paid her a visit. Atom stopped by several times, and Octavia struggled to remember that she was at work and needed to keep the PDA to a minimum. Monty also visited her, which Octavia really appreciated. She hadn’t gotten a lot of opportunities to get to know the new people and was happy to finally get to know some of them.

The afternoon brought a few more customers, but not too many. She looked behind the bar at the clock. It was 2:30, meaning one of the plays was about to start. She looked across the yard to see the stage and smiled a little when she saw Clarke and Finn up there together. They were calling for audience members to participate, mostly small kids. This was Octavia’s favorite show that they put on every year. Clarke and Finn would act as the narrators and have the kids act out a medieval fairytale in an adorably funny way.

“What does a guy have to do to get a beer around here?” Bellamy joked, plopping down next to Octavia.

“You’re working,” she reminded, not wanting him to get injured the next match because he wasn’t sober.

“I was joking. I just came here to see how you’re going,” he replied, nudging her with his elbow. Octavia turned her attention back to the play. They were at the part where the knight fought the dragon, but the kid they picked to be the dragon was way too small for the hat they gave him and he couldn’t see a thing. Clarke was having to guide him around the stage and the audience was laughing so hard. “This one was always one of my favorites,” he added fondly, also turning his attention to the play.

“Finn seems to be a natural.” Bellamy rolled his eyes. It was no secret that Bellamy didn’t care for Finn. Everyone with eyes could see that. It wasn’t that he was actively mean to Finn. It’s that he hardly ever acknowledged him… and when he did it was to correct him or to one-up him. “Be nice,” she reminded.

“I’m always nice,” he deadpanned. “For example, I haven’t tried to kill Atom yet. You’re welcome.” Octavia rolled her eyes.

“People couple up every year at this fair, Bell. Excuse me for doing the same,” she snapped.

“I don’t see other people coupling up this year.” Octavia sunk back in her chair, keeping her eyes fixed on the play.

“Not yet. But, a few more about to,” she said, remembering how Monty and Harper had been acting around each other earlier. Or how Clarke kept blushing when Octavia asked her about Finn. Bellamy rolled his eyes again. “What? You have to have noticed Monty and Harper.” Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows together, looking genuinely confused. “I know you noticed Clarke and Finn.” His head snapped to look at the play, where Clarke and Finn were standing side by side.

He shook his head before murmuring, “I’ve noticed Finn. But, Clarke would never go for an idiot like him.”

“He’s really sweet to her. Why wouldn’t she?” she asked, smiling over at them. Clarke looked genuinely at ease, which was a relief. Octavia had to believe that Finn was a part of that.

“Because he’s horrible. A pretentious ass who is in love with himself,” he snapped, directing his attention at Octavia. Oh my God, Octavia realized. Bellamy might be jealous.

“You’ve said similar things about Clarke. So why do you care if they’re together?” Bellamy swallowed, focusing his eyes away from her.

“I don’t,” he muttered. Octavia rolled her eyes.

“Let’s not pretend that you hate Clarke. You can’t possibly think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been checking up on Clarke these past few days. So, do you like her or something?” she smirked. His head shot up.

“O, shut the fuck up. Maybe that guy just rubs me the wrong way and I wouldn’t want anyone here to get hurt because of him,” he snapped, before getting up to walk away.

“I think the word you’re looking for is jealous,” she shouted at him as he stormed out, laughing to herself.

 

The rest of the opening week went pretty smoothly, all things considered. They definitely underestimated the amount of red wine they needed in the tavern, which lead to a lot of upset customers. There were a few technical difficulties with the sound system, which Monty seemed to have found a temporary fix for. But, Wallace said they were going to hire another person whose specialty was sound systems so that Monty wouldn’t be spread so thin. Bellamy accidentally injured Miller in a jousting match, but he would probably be back on his feet by next week. However, this meant that Bellamy would be jousting with Atom for the time being, which stressed out Octavia to no end.

He had continued to be against their relationship, despite how hard she and Atom had tried to convince him that they were good together. Octavia was ready to give up on it, not caring anymore what Bellamy thought. He had been a real ass for the past week, and she was fed up.

It was a tradition at Medici Magic to throw a party after making it through the first week. So, they were all gathered in Jasper’s apartment to celebrate.

“Which drinking game should we do first?” Jasper shouted and then hiccupped. He had starting drinking long before anyone else had arrived. Octavia was cuddled up on the couch with Atom and was across from Monty and Harper. Roan also plopped down on the couch, apparently not minding being a fifth wheel.

“This isn’t freshman year of college. Maybe no drinking games tonight, okay?” Bellamy replied, putting his hands on Jasper’s shoulders.

“Fuck no! I want to play Never Have I Ever!” Roan shouted, earning a laugh from most of the room. Eventually, even Bellamy gave in and they were all sitting in a circle playing the stupid game. Somehow, Finn ended up sitting next to Bellamy, which was oh so funny. But, Octavia noticed, Clarke wasn’t there. She glanced around the room, not able to find her.

“She’s outside with Wells,” Atom whispered into her ear. Octavia let out a sigh of relief, leaning back into him. It was like he could read her mind. She knew she had only known him for a week, but she couldn’t believe how well he already knew her.

She looked out the window to see her and Wells having a serious discussion. Good, she thought. It was about time that those two worked things out.

“Never have I ever been a barmaid!” Murphy shouted, smirking at Octavia. She took a drink.

“Cheap shot. Never have I ever been a knight!” Then, she heard Atom groan and take a drink. Oh right, she remembered. There were a lot of knights in the room. A couple of people started laughing about all the guys’ responses to that, which made Octavia feel a little better. Finn said something that she couldn’t hear… but she saw how Bell’s jaw clenched as soon as he spoke. She started praying to some higher being that this wasn’t going to be the moment where Bellamy snapped.

Then, the door swung open and Clarke and Wells came back in. “Never have I ever been a fair maiden!” Octavia shouted, trying to deescalate whatever was going on with Finn and Bellamy.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Clarke grumbled, stealing the drink out of Bellamy’s hand and downing all of it. Everyone started cheering and the room suddenly felt lighter. She leaned back into Atom and he kissed her forehead, earning a look from Bellamy but Octavia did not give a fuck. She was getting drunk with her summer family and no amount of grouchy glances from her brother was going to mess that up.


	4. We Need a Princess, Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one night! Also this low key might be my favorite chapter ever. I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know what you think! Love ya'll!

Moments like this were the only thing keeping Clarke sane. She was lying down in the tent behind the stage, closing her eyes for a little while. She just finished one of the musical numbers with Finn and Jasper. She was just so damn tired. The schedule for the day was really theater heavy in the morning, meaning Clarke had been running ragged for hours.

Finn and Jasper had went off a while back to help Wells with unloading some inventory, giving Clarke much needed alone time. She forgot about that part of this job… that you never got time alone. It’s something that usually she really loves, since that leaves her little time to be trapped alone with her thoughts. But, she also just needs some damn space. The rest of her day was going to be pretty light, with an occasional children’s show here and there.

“Uh, Clarke?” she heard someone behind her entering the tent. She sat up, annoyed that her little nap was being interrupted. It was Bellamy.

“Can I help you?” she snapped, rubbing her eyes.

“Actually, yes you can,” he said smugly. Why was he being so smug? Clarke furrowed her eyebrows at him, waiting for him to explain.

“I was not genuinely offering up my help, Blake,” she muttered, regretting setting him up so easily.

“But, I have a task that is uniquely suited for you,” he said with a huge smile on his face. Clarke didn’t like that one bit. He was up to something. “Plus, this isn’t just me asking. Wallace asked me to pick someone for this task and I think you’d be a perfect fit.” Clarke stood up, putting her shoes back on her feet and checking how she looked in the mirror across the room.

“And what is this cryptic task that you have for me?”

“Well, Bree had to leave work early today because of a family emergency,” he started, and Clarke was already putting together what he was about to ask her.

“Absolutely not,” she snapped.

“We need someone to announce the match. Plus, the people love it when there’s someone there to bestow favors onto the knights for the jousting match,” he continued, with a huge smile on his face.

“No!” she shouted, stepping closer to him. He was barely holding back his laughter, knowing how much this was pissing her off. She was going to kill him, then Wallace, then him again.

“I’d have Miller do it, but he just doesn’t seem like a, oh, what’s the word?”

“I am not doing it!” Clarke smacked the back of his head before storming out of the tent. He followed her, laughing loudly.

“We need a princess, princess,” he smirked, leaning against the tree. Oh, he was fucking loving this. He finally had an excuse to force Clarke into that damn princess costume and finally earn that stupid nickname.

“Ask someone else! I’m not going to be your princess!”

“Oh, you’ll always be my princess,” he replied smugly. “Besides, you’re the only girl we have here that has a loose enough schedule to be able to do it. Did I mention that you get a tiara?”

“I hate you,” she muttered, sinking into the bench.

“I’m also going to need a princess for the rest of the matches today. Maybe even tomorrow, if Bree is still out.”

 

The princess dress was bright pink and huge. Clarke hated it. The corset was a bitch to get on and there was no way that this complicated dress could be era appropriate. The crown dug into her scalp and all she wanted to do was ram a lance into Bellamy’s chest.

Explaining the rules of the match was the easiest part. The crowd was huge, even bigger than the crowds she was used to at the theater. There were families everywhere, with popcorn and drinks, excited to watch this match.

The hardest part… was keeping a straight face when bestowing a favor onto Bellamy.

“Why thank you, princess,” he said smugly, making it hard for Clarke to keep her pleasant “princess” smile on her face.

“I hope you fall off your horse,” she replied, never letting her smile fade.

 

 

She was supposed to have an easy afternoon. But, now, she had new “princess” duties that had her sprinting back and forth from the stage and the arena with way too many costume changes. She messed up a few times during the kid’s play, but Finn easily covered her, which she was thankful for.

She was back in the tent, trying to lace up that damn corset again when Finn walked in.

“Need a hand?” he asked and Clarke exasperatedly nodded in response. “I’m sorry you’re having a crazy day.”

“Just another day at Medici Magic, I guess,” she muttered.

“If it’s any consolation, you look really pretty in the princess costume,” he said seriously, finishing up with the corset.

“Thanks,” she replied, blushing a little bit. She tried to busy herself by getting the rest of her costume ready to go back to the arena, but Finn just kept staring at her. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She knew he liked her. But, she also knew this was probably a good idea. However, he was really there for her last week when she was on the outs with Wells. He didn’t prod her with questions but made it clear that she could talk if she needed to. It was sweet.

“If you want to get a drink after work so you can vent about today, I’m game,” he said with a gentle smile. She knew she should probably say no. She knew this probably wouldn’t end well. None of her relationships ever ended well. She should say no.

“Okay,” she replied, putting on that damn princess crown. She left the tent and powerwalked back over to the arena. The next event was some sort of tournament that seemed unnecessarily complicated. As Bellamy broke down how the rules went, Clarke really questioned how she was going to keep all of this information straight for the announcement.

“Roll up your sleeves a little,” Bellamy suggested, earning a confused look from Clarke. He grabbed her wrist and pushed her sleeve up slightly, before grabbing a pen to write on her arm. “Bree does this every day. While each event is going on and the audience is distracted, glance down to remind yourself how the next one works.” He was writing the cheats for the first half of the events on her left arm before moving over to her right.

“Thanks,” she muttered, still pissed at him for getting her into this. It really wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if he had just gotten Miller to announce and skip the whole bestowing favors part of this nonsense. When he was done writing, he pushed down her sleeves, and returned to getting ready. She couldn’t help but notice how cold he was to Atom, but she really shouldn’t have expected anything else. It was Bellamy, after all. Miller had been spending his day helping out Wells in the shops, since he still couldn’t fight.

It wasn’t easy being down to three guys in the arena. Murphy was great and all, but the exhaustion was starting to get to all of them. They might have to pull Roan in if Miller didn’t get better soon.

The tournament went on as scheduled, though. It seemed interesting, Clarke realized, despite having no actual clue what was going on. She just followed the cheats that Bellamy had written for her and announced scores once Bellamy had gestured them to her. He was… surprisingly helpful. But, still an ass.

Murphy won the tournament, apparently. Clarke didn’t really understand how. But, apparently he was really good at the event where he had to hit the spinning thing with his lance. Regardless, Clarke was just happy to be done with the whole stupid ordeal and be done with the day. The second the crowd started to exit, Clarke started heading toward the stage so that she could change for the last time that day.

She pulled back on her light purple dress and put on her headpiece. Much better, she thought. And so much more comfortable. She headed out of the tent, and walked toward Octavia’s tavern. Octavia was too busy talking to Atom to notice Clarke walk in, which was fine. She was happy for her. So, she just sat at the bar and rested her head for a just a second.

“I don’t know why you hate being called princess so much. You fucking nailed it,” Bellamy said, causing Clarke to jerk her head up. Where the fuck did he come from?

“Go away,” she muttered, throwing her head back down.

“I meant that sincerely. You did better than Bree does. Or better than Roma did. Like the crowd loved it,” he continued, leaning his back against the counter.

“Don’t get any ideas. I’m not your princess,” she snapped, not bringing her head up to look at him.

“You’re breaking my heart, princess,” he smirked. God, she wanted to punch him. She was exhausted and hot and dead and it was all his fault. And then he can’t seem to leave her alone and keeps rubbing it in.

“What do you want, Blake?”

“To say thank you, actually. You saved my day. Thank you,” he said sincerely, causing Clarke to look up in confusion. “Also, some of us are going out tonight to blow off some steam since today was kind of crazy. Want to join?” Clarke furrowed her eyebrows even more. He hated her. That was a well-established fact. Everyone who knew them knew that. Why was he bothering to be nice to her?

“I can’t. I already have plans tonight,” she replied, remembering that she was meeting up with Finn.

“And those are…?”

“Grabbing drinks with Finn.”

“Why?” he asked with his eyebrow raised. Clarke was struck by how intensely he was looking at her, not breaking eye contact. His jaw was clenched and he almost seemed angry… but Clarke couldn’t imagine why. Maybe he was trying to distract himself from Octavia’s ridiculous PDA and was failing at it. That had to be it.

“He asked me and it sounded like fun?” she replied, not breaking eye contact. He didn’t look away either but still looked just as upset. What the hell was wrong with him? It couldn’t be Octavia, because she had just left the room.

“Okay,” he replied, standing up, suddenly looking anywhere except at Clarke. “I guess I’ll just see you tomorrow,” he muttered, walking out of the tavern. Clarke leaned back against the counter, watching him storm off. What even was that?

 

Her time with Finn was fun. They talked extensively about her art, and she doodled on a napkin for him.

“Here is a Clarke Griffin original,” she joked, sliding it over to him. He stared at it with a smile.

“You’re really talented, you know that right?” he said seriously. They were sitting at a booth and it was getting late. They might have been the last two people at that bar. She couldn’t really tell. She was too busy focusing on Finn, who had kept finding flimsy excuses to touch her… and she really didn’t mind.

“Well, I’ve been practicing for a long time,” she replied with a smile. It had been a long time since she had actually talked to someone about her art. It wasn’t like she purposefully kept this from people… it’s just that no one ever asked. She only sketched when she was alone in her room, so no one really saw her do it. But, she loved that she could share this with Finn.

He walked her back to her apartment, which was sweet. She didn’t invite him in, not knowing if Octavia was actually going to be sleeping there. He kissed her good night and Clarke couldn’t remember the last time anyone had kissed her. It was at least six months ago but felt like years ago. It was a simple, chaste kiss. Not a lot of feeling there… but that would come later. Clarke was sure of it. She had a huge smile on her face when she walked into her apartment, where Bellamy and Octavia were arguing in the kitchen.

“No, I’m done with this whole macho over protective brother thing! It’s weird and messed up!” Octavia shouted, apparently not noticing that Clarke was walking in to the room. She made sure to slam the door behind her extra loud so that they would both notice she was there.

“Oh, sorry Clarke,” Octavia muttered, looking down at her feet. Bellamy was still clenching his jaw, but turned his attention to Clarke.

“You were out late,” he observed while furrowing his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I was with Finn. Sorry for interrupting,” she muttered, walking toward her room. “Good night, guys.” She shut the door behind her, letting out a sigh of relief once she was finally out of their sight. She didn’t like being anywhere near the Blake siblings when they were fighting.

“What the fuck even was that?” Clarke heard Octavia snap through the door.

“What are you talking about?” Bellamy shouted back. Clarke threw herself onto her bed, hoping to drown out some of the noise.

“What were we just talking about like half an hour ago? God, Bell, you are so fucking stupid!”

“O, keep your voice down! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Clarke pulled her pillow over her head, muffling the sound of their fight. She needed just a few moments of quiet and couldn’t even get that. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Before she knew it, doors were being slammed and Octavia stopped making noise. Then, she heard Bellamy through the wall she shared with his apartment going off on Miller, probably describing his fight with Octavia. Clarke pounded on the wall, to remind him to shut the fuck up. He quieted down, probably heading over to his room. Then, her phone dinged and she had a text from Bellamy: _sorry, forgot we shared a wall. didn’t mean to keep you up. sleep well._

Clarke rolled her eyes before flipping onto her stomach. She took deep breaths until she lulled herself to sleep.


	5. As Wonderful As Your Prince Charming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far, this fic has been pretty drama lite... but here comes the drama! You guys should know after my last fic what a sucker I am for the dramatics. Also, in the next few updates, you can expect my equivalent of the day trip... which I am the most excited about. 
> 
> Anyway, this might be my last update for a few days (three updates in less than twenty-four hours isn't bad though) since I have a crazy work week. It all depends on how much the kids wear me out each day lol.
> 
> Also, thanks for the feedback! Hit me up on tumblr (I'm asroarke on there too) and let me know what you guys think of this chapter. Love you guys!

Bellamy was getting really tired of fighting with Octavia. It had been a week since his screaming match with her and she still wasn’t speaking to him. He knew that in a way, he was wrong. Who Octavia sees is completely her business and Bellamy has no actual right to intervene. But, it’s so damn hard when he can see how this one was going to end. Atom was exactly like all of her ex boyfriends and it drove him insane that Octavia couldn’t see that. He was tired of watching her make the same mistakes over and over again.

Bellamy was resting on a bench outside the tavern, trying to work up the courage to go in. It was mid-afternoon and the fair was starting to calm down. Tuesdays were never big days at Medici Magic, meaning they had less shows and matches scheduled. There were still plenty of people around, but the atmosphere was much calmer.

“You doing okay?” Wells asked, plopping down next to him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he muttered, keeping his elbows on his thighs and looking toward the ground.

“Wanna try saying that without a snarl on your face?” he asked in a joking tone. Bellamy let out a sigh.

“O and I still haven’t made up.”

“She’ll come around.”

“What makes you so sure?” Wells glanced over toward the play where Clarke and Finn were performing.

“I don’t have a little sister, but Clarke is pretty damn close. We’ve had horrible screaming matches and gone months without speaking. But, in the end, we always forgive each other,” he explained, smiling over at her. Bellamy followed his glance to look at Clarke, who was in the middle of a romantic scene with Finn. He swallowed, trying to think about literally anything else. Lately, he had been feeling weird around Clarke. It started because Miller and Roan kept insinuating that there was something going on between them, which there absolutely was not. But, then Octavia started saying they were right, which pissed Bellamy off to no end. He couldn’t see what would give them that impression, considering how the two of them could barely stand each other.

Well, that wasn’t exactly fair. He was still pretty sure he didn’t like her… but he wasn’t sure that “hate” described their relationship anymore. She drove him insane, especially at trivia night. She was always challenging him, correcting him. But, he could also depend on her to be there, which is more than he could say for most people. They were almost friends. Almost.

“She seemed really pissed at you not too long ago,” Bellamy remembered.

“That wasn’t really about me, though,” Wells argued, leaning back. “It was about her wanting to keep her real life separate from her life here. And I screwed that up for her.” He nodded in response, kind of understanding where Clarke was coming from. They all had things they were trying to get away from, himself included. It had to be nice to be somewhere where no one knew your story.

“I wish that were the case with Octavia right now,” he muttered.

“It’ll work out. Trust me,” Wells replied, patting Bellamy on the back before taking off. He redirected his attention back to the play, where Finn was kissing Clarke. Bellamy swallowed again, before turning his head away from the play.

A lot of his coworkers had speculated that Clarke and Finn were actually together, which Bellamy did not buy. Clarke was many things… but stupid was not one of them. There’s no way a girl like Clarke would fall for such a pretentious idiot. She was better than that.

They had been spending more time together, which Bellamy figured was just Clarke being nice. She and Finn could totally just be friends. Everyone could just be reading into the situation… which would make more sense than Clarke falling for the jackass that never shut his damn mouth.

Bellamy got up to walk around the rest of the fair, having a few hours until his next match. He walked past the shop tents, which were pretty busy. He passed Roan, who looked bored out of his mind by the archery area. There was only one person at his little kiosk, who couldn’t hold the bow straight to save his life.

As Bellamy started making his way back to the arena, he felt something tug at his sleeve. He looked down to see a little blonde girl who had been crying.

“Hi, how are you?” he asked, crouching down to her level.

“I can’t find my parents,” she almost whispered, struggling to keep her breathing calm enough to get those words out.

“Okay, I promise you that we are going to find them,” he replied with a smile, trying to reassure her. She leaned into his shoulder and started sobbing. He patted her on the back while looking around to see who all was nearby. Luna and Monty both looked busy, and he couldn’t find Murphy or Atom anywhere. He looked over to the stage, where Jasper had just started his act. Clarke was probably free, he realized.

“I’m going to take you to my friend who is going to help us, okay?” The girl started nodding quickly, following Bellamy toward the stage. Clarke spotted them before Bellamy even called out to her, and she ran over to them. “Hey, Clarke. This girl can’t find her parents anywhere,” he explained, trying to remember to keep a calm face so that the girl didn’t freak out.

“Hi, I’m Clarke,” she said to the girl. “What is your name?”

“Charlotte,” she managed to say, still trying to control her breathing.

“Hello, Charlotte. Can you take a deep breath for me?” Clarke crouched down and reached her hand out toward her. Bellamy let out a sigh of relief. He knew he could count on Clarke to know what to say. “Okay just a few more deep breaths,” she continued, and Charlotte was starting to calm down. Bellamy looked around to see if any people seemed to be looking for their kid. “Do you remember the last place you saw them?” Charlotte shook her head quickly, tears starting to form in her eyes all over again. “Hey, that’s okay. We are still going to find them.”

“Clarke, I should probably go alert Wallace about this,” Bellamy said quietly, hoping not to alarm the kid. Clarke nodded before redirecting her attention back to Charlotte.

“How about you stay with me while Bellamy goes and finds your parents? Does that sound okay?” Charlotte looked up at him skeptically, and he had to try not to laugh. It really wasn’t a funny situation, but he couldn’t blame the girl for being skeptical.

“What if he can’t find them?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

“Well, he’s actually a knight. It’s kind of his job to help people. And he’s really good at it,” Clarke reassured, shooting Bellamy a look to agree.

“She’s right,” he added in, before Clarke gave him a gesture to go. He started powerwalking over to the main building. When he got there, Wallace was already sitting down with a man and a woman.

“Bellamy, not now,” he muttered, not breaking his eye contact with the couple.

“Are they looking for their daughter, Charlotte?” he interrupted, not wanting to waste any time. Both of their eyes shot up, looking relieved.

When he led the parents back to Clarke and Charlotte, the two of them were drawing in one of the tents, too focused to even hear them come in. When her parents called her, Charlotte jumped out of her seat and sprinted to them for a hug. Clarke shot Bellamy a relieved look, before Wallace patted him on the back. Charlotte ran back to hug Clarke before taking off with her parents. Wallace followed behind them, probably reassuring them that safety is their number priority at Medici Magic or something.

“You did good,” he said to Clarke, who was grabbing the sheets of paper and putting up the pencils.

”So did you,” she replied, putting her stuff into her bag, getting ready to head back to the stage.

“Thank you, by the way. I had no idea how to calm her down,” he felt the need to add, but Clarke just brushed him off.

“You did just fine. Don’t worry about it.” Bellamy walked with Clarke back to the stage where Jasper was still performing.  A plane flew over them in the sky and Jasper started freaking out and screaming “Dragon!” at the top of his lungs, earning a sea of laughter from the audience.

“That was my idea, by the way,” Clarke whispered to Bellamy who was still laughing at the improvisation.

“No way,” he deadpanned.

“Okay, I went to a different Renaissance Fair and saw a comedian do it. But, it was my idea to steal it!” Bellamy had to lean back into a tree to keep himself from falling over from laughing so hard.

“Who knew the princess was also a thief?” he joked quietly, remembering not to interrupt the rest of the performance. Clarke elbowed him in the side, which made it more difficult to laugh quietly.

“Stop being a dick,” she muttered, eyes not leaving the performance.

“Not every guy can be as wonderful as your Prince Charming,” he whispered, earning another elbow jab to the side. He earned that one.

 

The rest of Jasper’s performance was hilarious, not that Bellamy expected anything else. Clarke ran off to get back to work, which bothered Bellamy. For a moment, he forgot that he was at work and thought he was just hanging out with Clarke. It felt so normal, which startled him. But, now she was off with Finn getting ready for another performance, leaving Bellamy all alone again.

He started wandering around, still having another hour until he needed to be back at the arena. No one really needed help, so he didn’t have much to do. He decided to go see if Wallace needed anything.

When he got to the office, Wallace was chatting with some girl that Bellamy didn’t recognize. She had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail and looked close to his age.

“Oh, Bellamy! I’m glad you’re here,” Wallace started. “Raven, this is Bellamy. Bellamy, this is Raven. She’s our new sound technician.” Bellamy held out his hand to shake her hand, and she greeted him with a nice smile. She was pretty, he noticed.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, shaking his hand just a little too hard.

“You too. How did you find out about Medici Magic?” Bellamy asked, curious about the answer. It wasn’t exactly a well-known group and most people had really weird answers for how they ended up there.

“Oh, actually my boyfriend works here and I was tired of being away from him every summer. So, I’m here to surprise him,” she said excitedly. Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows… who was her boyfriend? He knew the guys all pretty well. If they had girlfriends back home, they talked about them a lot. But, he was certain he had never heard of this Raven girl. “Actually, do you know where Finn is right now?”

Bellamy felt something drop in his stomach as he shook his head. He had been fucking right about Finn. He knew there was something not right about that guy and no one fucking believed him. Raven rambled about going to find him later before continuing her conversation with Wallace. Bellamy couldn’t focus. He ran out of the office and headed toward the stage, where Clarke and Finn were in the middle of their next performance. Fuck, he thought. He had been pretty sure that nothing had gone on between Clarke and Finn… but he could have been wrong. If he was wrong, shit was about to hit the fan.

He thought about going into the tavern to ask Octavia for her advice but decided against it. She probably wouldn’t listen to him. He headed for Roan instead.

Roan had fallen asleep in his chair, since no one seemed to be at his booth. He started to wake up when Bellamy stormed over.

“What’s the emergency?” he asked with a smirk, but Bellamy was not amused.

“Finn’s girlfriend just showed up.”

“I wouldn’t call Clarke his girlfriend,” Roan said with a confused face. “They’ve been hooking up for the past week, but it’s too early for those kinds of labels.” Bellamy shot him a look, hoping that Roan would realize he wasn’t talking about Clarke… but Roan seemed kind of out of it.

“No, his girlfriend Raven. Our new sound technician,” he snapped, causing Roan to sit straight up, clenching his jaw.

“Have you told Clarke?” Roan asked, taking forced deep breaths. His brows were furrowed and he was glaring in the direction of the stage. Bellamy shook his head. “I’m going to fucking kill him,” Roan muttered, standing up abruptly. Bellamy jumped in front of him and shot him a warning look.

“Roan, calm down,” he warned. A few people walking by shot them confused looks, but Bellamy tried to ignore it.

“I can’t fucking calm down!” he shouted, and Miller came jogging up to see what was going on. Bellamy put his hand up to let him know he had the situation under control. “How am I supposed to tell her?”

Bellamy shrugged, wondering the same thing. But, they needed to tell her before she found out the other way. Roan and Bellamy started heading toward the stage, where Clarke’s performance had just finished and she was cleaning up the stage.

“Finn!” he heard someone shout as they walked toward Clarke. It was Raven. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Finn jerked his head up and had a look of sheer confusion on his face. Raven started running up to him, and Bellamy looked over at Clarke, who had an equally confused look on her face.

“Fuck,” Roan whispered, stopping in his tracks. Raven jumped up onto Finn and started kissing him all over his face. Bellamy kept his eyes trained on Clarke, whose face had turned cold. She was clenching her jaw, not moving her eyes from that jackass Finn. Finn and Raven had caused quite the commotion, because lots of people were walking over to see what was going on. He made eye contact with Octavia who had a sad look on her face. He looked back over toward where Clarke was, but she was gone. Where the fuck did she go? He went to ask Roan, but Roan was also gone. Ah, he had followed her.

Bellamy decided to head toward the stage tent, and Octavia seemed to have the same idea. He was right. That was where Roan and Clarke went.

“Clarke, I was on my way to tell you so that you didn’t find out like this,” Roan explained, following Clarke around the room as she put all of the props and costumes up.

“Clarke, talk to us,” Octavia begged, moving toward her. Bellamy stayed back, knowing that he probably was the last person who could comfort her.

“I’m fine. Now, if you don’t mind, I have work to get done,” she snapped, not looking up at them. Octavia and Roan shot each other an exasperated look before looking back at Bellamy. He shrugged at them, not sure what they wanted him to do. Octavia pressed her lips together and nodded her head in Clarke’s direction. Now it was Bellamy’s turn to give her an exasperated look. Roan crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. They wanted him to try and talk to Clarke. What was he supposed to say to make her feel better? He usually just made her feel worse. Bellamy shook his head and Roan aggressively pointed over at Clarke, who was violently throwing costume pieces into trunks. Bellamy let out a sigh and gestured for Roan and Octavia to leave. They did, but only after shooting him warning looks.

“Need help, princess?” he asked, and Clarke’s head snapped up to glare at him.

“Do not fucking call me that,” she spat, pointing a finger at him. He flinched, before taking a deep breath and proceeding. He starting folding up costumes beside her, keeping his eyes trained on Clarke. She was explicitly ignoring him, clearly wishing he weren’t there. But, she wasn’t bothering to tell him to leave, which he took as a good sign, all things considered.

“Want me to beat him up?” he asked after a few minutes, trying to lighten up the atmosphere in that tent. Clarke shot him another glare, as if to say that she could do that herself, and Bellamy tried not to laugh in response.

Suddenly, Finn came running into the tent, followed by Roan who had probably been standing outside.

“Clarke, can I talk to you?” he asked, shooting Bellamy a warning look.

“Finn, maybe you should go,” Roan suggested, stepping in front of Clarke.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend to get back to?” Clarke snapped, not even looking up from the chair she was folding up.

“It’s not like that. She and I were on a break. I thought we were done but she thought we were still together. I’m so sorry,” he frantically explained, and Bellamy stepped in front of him when he tried to get closer to Clarke. He shot Finn a glare, to remind him that he needed to tread carefully. Honestly, Bellamy was kind of surprised that Finn dared to even come in here considering how many people in this room wanted to beat the shit out of him. Roan was a terrifying dude and Finn had just fucked over his best friend who he thinks of like a little sister. Bellamy already hated Finn and was all too eager to finally smack him around. Then, there was Clarke, who he probably should have been the most scared of. Finn shot Bellamy a defiant look before moving around him toward Clarke. Bellamy didn’t bother to step back in front of him, and instead moved out of the way. Finn grabbed Clarke’s left shoulder to turn her around… which was a huge mistake, because her right arm came swinging around and punched him right in the nose, knocking him over.

“Fuck,” Clarke muttered, shaking her right hand after the punch. Bellamy let out a sigh, remembering how much his hand hurt the first time he punched someone. Octavia ran back into the tent, stopping abruptly when she saw Finn on the ground.

“Bell, what is wrong with you?” she shouted.

“I didn’t punch him!” he yelled back. Roan was now helping Finn up, and Clarke was smiling smugly.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Octavia muttered, walking over to Finn checking out his nose. Finn shot Clarke a look and she just smiled back. “Bell, can you get Clarke out of here?” she asked, shooting a worried glance to Roan. Yeah, it was probably for the best that these two were separated for a while. He grabbed Clarke’s arm and started leading her out of the tent.

He led her to the back route to the arena, the one that the customers never saw. She walked next to him, not saying anything, just keeping her arms over her head, taking deep breaths.

“You calm yet?” he asked, studying her face.

“Fuck no,” she snapped.

“Punching him didn’t help?” he joked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

“It did. But, not enough,” she muttered.

“It was an impressive punch, by the way. Remind me not to piss you off,” he added, getting a small smile out of Clarke.

“You’ll just piss me off anyway… it’s kind of what you do best,” she joked, and Bellamy let out a sigh of relief. Here was the Clarke he was used to, finally. Whatever had come over her earlier was kind of scary. Not the punching part, that was to be expected, knowing her. But, the way she completely shut down after she saw Raven and Finn… that was horrifying and creepy. Like, she still looked like Clarke but wasn’t Clarke anymore.

They arrived at the arena, and he put Clarke in the back tent during his match. Bree made the announcements, but Bellamy almost missed his cue from being so distracted. He was worried about her, he realized. She was in pain and that caused Bellamy pain, which was new to him. When did that start happening, he wondered. They weren’t even really friends. How did he get to this point?

When he got back to Clarke, Wells and Roan were both with her and Bellamy knew she was in good hands, so he left. He hung around the tavern, hoping to talk to Octavia about what happened after they left, but she was super busy. Murphy plopped down next to him and started telling him about how Finn apparently screwed up taking down one of the sets and one of the wooden props collapsed onto him, messing up his nose pretty badly. Knowing Finn, it was a believable story. He bet Octavia came up with that lie.

 

The rest of the night had a weird atmosphere, since most of the staff knew about the newest drama involving Finn. No one said anything to Raven, as far as he could tell… which was probably for the best for now. When he got back to his apartment, he found Clarke asleep on his couch. He marched over to Roan’s room to ask him what was going on.

“Her apartment was the only one with a vacancy. Who do you think her new roommate is?” he answered, with a concerned look on his face. Bellamy let out a sigh. Poor Clarke. Life wasn’t being kind to her.

He walked back over to the living room where Clarke was stirring a bit. Given she shitty day she’s had, she deserves to at least sleep on a real bed and not this shitty couch. He went to pick her up, and she didn’t open her eyes. But, she put her arms around his neck and leaned into him, barely even awake. He let out a sigh as he carried her back to his room, earning a raised eyebrow from Miller. Bellamy just glared back, before gently lying Clarke onto his bed. He grabbed a blanket and his pillow, before turning out the light and heading to the couch. As he tried to fall asleep, he kept replaying that day’s events in his head. Fucking Finn, he muttered to himself. He was so right about that asshole.


	6. Everyone Needs a Hobby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got this one up sooner than expected, hope you guys like it. It's a shorter chapter, but the next two will be long long ones (with my equivalent of that day trip soooo)
> 
> Anyway, feedback is always appreciated. Love you guys!

Packing up was the absolute worst part of this job, Roan thought. They had finished up their last day in Arkadia yesterday, which meant the entire staff was packing up their equipment and tents to head on over to Polis.

Unpacking was easy, literally anyone could do that. But, for some reason, some people were the absolute work at packing. This year, the bane of his existence was Finn, who literally took breaks after carrying any heavy object to the damn truck. He agreed to pack up the theater’s stuff so that Clarke could have some time away from Finn, but he was seriously doubting his ability to make it through the day without bashing Finn’s head in with one of the wizard staffs.

He was breaking down one of the backdrops, while Finn took a break to drink some water after carrying one of the crates to the truck. He should be in better shape by now, Roan thought, groaning quietly. For fuck’s sake, even Jasper was being more helpful, and that child is a walking toothpick.

“Can I help?” Finn asked, still sounding out of breath. Well, at least he was trying to look helpful. That’s an improvement.

“I’ve got this,” Roan mumbled, not really in the mood to walk him through how to do this. Telling him how to be helpful would just be more work than doing it by himself, he reasoned.

“Do you have a problem with me?” Finn accused, furrowing his eyebrows. This kid has got to be kidding…

“Of course not,” he said with a fake smile, hoping that Finn would take a damn hint. Of course, Roan had a huge problem with Finn. He had many problems with Finn. But, it was a long summer. And Roan would rather not have an altercation with someone when he had to work with them for a few more months.

“Then, why have you been a passive aggressive dick to me?” he snapped, leading Jasper to walk over to see what’s going on. Roan snapped his head at Finn, wondering where this guy got off. Did he not realize that Roan could break him?

Roan straightened up his posture, before stepping toward Finn. He towered over this kid, making sure to look down at him like he was nothing. He raised an eyebrow, before saying calmly, “Want to try that again?” He could see Finn start to doubt himself, not that he really had much to be confident about before.

Finn swallowed, but didn’t break eye contact. “What’s going on, guys?” Bellamy interrupted, causing him and Finn to turn their heads. Finn shied away, going back to his corner of the room to pack up. Coward, Roan thought to himself. Bellamy walked over to Roan, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Is he more scared of you than me?” Roan asked, a little annoyed that Bellamy was the one to get Finn to back down.

“Don’t take it personally. It’s just that you weren’t the one who pinned him up against the wall and threatened him yesterday,” Bellamy muttered, grabbing one of the packed crates. Roan cracked a smile, imagining Bellamy going after Finn. He normally wasn’t a big fan of his temper… but this situation was the exception.

“And what prompted that?” he asked with a smirk, having a pretty good idea already. As much as Bellamy tried to deny it, he seemed pretty invested in what happened to Clarke. He’s let her sleep in his bed a few times now… well, not let. Insisted was probably the better word. He convinced Wallace that temporarily switching Bree and Clarke would be the best thing for the fair, just so Clarke didn’t have to work closely with Finn… and probably so he could keep a better eye on her over at the arena… not that he’d ever admit to that. Or like he’d admit to checking in on her multiple times a day, even though he wasn’t even being subtle about it.

Bellamy shot him a glare, as if to tell Roan to drop it. But, Roan’s smirk didn’t fade. “Last night, he kept knocking on our door, trying to talk to Clarke. He needed to be reminded that bothering Clarke wasn’t a good idea,” he muttered, before walking off with the crate. Roan rolled his eyes before getting back to work. Bellamy was a fucking idiot.

 

“When are you going to tell her?” Roan asked, earning a glare from Clarke. He was sitting at the bar with her and Wells, trying to blow off steam after the long day. He had to get back to his apartment soon to pack up his stuff for the drive the next morning.

“I don’t think I should,” she almost whispered, looking around to see if anyone else from work was nearby. Most people had a good idea what had gone down, so Clarke really shouldn’t be worried they would overhear something new. Literally the only person who didn’t know that she had slept with Finn was Raven… and she was going to find out sooner or later.

“I agree,” Wells added in, before taking another sip of his beer. He made a sour face as he swallowed, and Roan had to hold back a laugh. Wells clearly hated beer but kept trying to learn to like it since everyone else on the staff drank it all the time. It was honestly adorable.

“How could you possibly think that was a good idea?” he practically shouted, waving his hands in the air out of frustration. Raven was going to find out sooner rather than later… If Clarke told her, she could at least tell her side of the story.

“Look, Finn didn’t mean to cheat on her. He thought they were broken up,” Clarke justified, keeping her eyes fixed on the counter. Roan let out a groan. There was no way Clarke was that forgiving of Finn. This wasn’t Clarke talking. She doesn’t just defend people who screw her over. “I think it’d be better if we just lived our lives like nothing happened,” she muttered, and Wells nodded in agreement.

“And what happens if one of your many stupid coworkers let it slip?” Roan muttered, annoyed that these two weren’t thinking this through.

“Then, we pray Raven isn’t the punch first ask questions later kind of gal,” Wells joked, and Clarke slapped him in the back of the head. Roan nearly spit out his drink.

“You should know, Finn has tried to come by to talk to you apparently,” Roan explained to Clarke, hoping to remind her that he was also someone that needed to be dealt with.

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Then, why haven’t I seen him?”

“Probably because Bellamy’s new hobby has been threatening him before he can even get in the door.” Clarke choked on her drink, eyes widening.

“Well, everyone needs a hobby,” Wells added in, smirking. He shot Roan a glance, as if to say that he sees it too. Bellamy is being straight up protective of Clarke, and it’s adorable and weird. Like, he’s still being a dick to her in person. Roan thought he was going to strangle Clarke when they got into a fight over how historically accurate The Borgias was last night. But, when she’s not paying attention, he’s checking up on her, threatening Finn, or asking Roan how Clarke was doing.

“My knight in shining armor,” Clarke muttered into her drink, earning a way too loud laugh from Roan and Wells.

“Every princess needs one,” Wells joked.

“Don’t you fucking start,” Clarke said, wagging her finger at him.

 

When they got back to the apartments, Clarke went into hers, so that she could pack for the next day. Raven was probably with Finn in his room, which meant Clarke should be good for the night. He went into his apartment, where Miller was dragging his suitcases into the living room. Roan nodded in his direction, too tired to even talk. Miller nodded in response, before Roan headed to his room.

He groaned when he looked at his room. He really should have done laundry before tonight. Fuck it, he decided, before throwing all of his dirty clothes into his suitcase anyway, resolving to wash it all when he got to Polis. He heard a knock before him before Bellamy walked in. He looked around the room, seeming kind of confused.

“Where is Clarke?” Roan rolled his eyes… of course, that’s what Bellamy wanted to know.

“She’s sleeping in her own bed tonight. Don’t worry. No more couch for you,” he smirked at Bellamy, whose face didn’t relax.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Roan looked up to shoot Bellamy a glare. He just shrugged his shoulders in response.

“She’s an adult. She’ll be fine,” he said condescendingly. Bellamy muttered something in response before walking back to his room. God, Bellamy Blake really was an idiot.


	7. Bellamy, We Hate Each Other

Of course, Clarke overslept. She already had enough bad luck as it was… but this was the icing on the damn cake. She was supposed to get on the road two hours ago. As she stumbled out of bed to frantically get dressed, she heard a frantic knock on her front door. She threw her t-shirt on and tried to untangle her hair, before sprinting to the door. The living room was completely empty, telling Clarke that Raven and Octavia were already long gone.

“Thank God, you’re still here,” Bellamy said as Clarke answered the door. What the hell was he still doing here? Octavia was gone and he should be too. She groaned, letting him in.

“I’m running late,” she muttered, heading back toward her bathroom to brush her teeth.

“Yeah, so am I. It’s kind of hard to get somewhere on time when your little sister takes off with your truck leaving you without a ride to Polis,” he snapped, as he followed her to the bathroom.

“What the fuck?” Clarke replied, turning to look at him.

“She got up before me and left with Atom. Then, I spent too long trying to get a hold of her when I should have been looking for a ride. So, here I am,” he continued, leaning against the door frame.

Clarke’s head shot up after spitting out her toothpaste in the sink. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she snapped.

“Please, Clarke.”

“There has got to be someone else who can give you a ride,” she suggested. She couldn’t spend all day in a car with Bellamy. It was a horrible idea. They might actually kill each other.

“Do you honestly think I would be here if that was true?” he said with a grim expression. Clarke grabbed her toiletries before making her way back to her bedroom. She threw them into her suitcase before zipping it shut. “We don’t have to talk,” he added, smirking at her.

“Bellamy, we hate each other,” she snapped, pissed that Octavia took off like that. She loved that girl more than anything… but for fuck’s sake. Clarke understood that Octavia and Bellamy were going through some stuff. She understood that maybe Octavia didn’t want to be stuck in a car all day with him… but at least deep down they loved each other. Clarke and Bellamy should never be left alone together for that long.

“I don’t hate you,” he said, sitting at the foot of her bed as she got the rest of her stuff together.

“Yes, you do. You made that perfectly clear when you met me a year ago and nothing has changed,” she spat, beyond furious. Bellamy’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but changed his mind last minute and looked away.

Clarke knew she wasn’t being fair to Bellamy. Sure, they didn’t get along… but they were slowly starting to tolerate each other. There were moments where she could see the parts of him that Octavia loved or could understand how Miller felt comfortable enough with him to open up. There were moments where Clarke could see how they could be good friends.

She wasn’t pissed at Bellamy. She was pissed at Octavia for being petty. She was pissed at her alarm clock for not being louder. She was pissed at Raven for being a wonderful person that made Clarke feel like shit because of what she had done to her. She was pissed at herself for keeping herself up too late beating herself up over what happened with Finn. She was pissed at Finn for everything.

But, she was not pissed at Bellamy and he didn’t deserve this. Not this time, at least.

“I do not hate you, Clarke,” he repeated, eyes fixed on the ground.

“Are you already packed and ready to go?” she changed the subject, taking slow breaths to calm herself down. He nodded, raising an eyebrow. “Okay, I’ll meet you at my car in ten minutes,” she added, returning her attention to her tangled hair. Bellamy sat there for a moment longer, before getting up to leave.

Clarke looked at herself in the mirror, realizing just how exhausted she looked. Fuck, she thought to herself. She was kind of looking forward to the silence of the long drive to Polis. Now, she was going to spend an entire day trapped in her car with Bellamy Blake.

 

“I know what I’m talking about,” she snapped, and Bellamy threw his head back into his headrest.

“You can’t just blame an entire war on the actions of one man!” he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. Clarke turned down the radio.

“If Wilhelm II had just listened to Bismarck, none of it would have happened! He warned him not to start competing with England by building a strong navy. He warned them about getting into imperialistic ventures---“

“The war was going to happen anyway,” he interrupted, causing Clarke to groan.

“But, Germany didn’t have to be at the center of it! If you had let me finish,” she snapped, wagging her finger at him, “you would have known that the last thing on my list was that Bismarck warned him about forming stupid alliances… And if Wilhelm had listened, Germany never would have allied with Austria-Hungary and would not have been dragged into the war in the first place!” She was gripping her steering wheel a little too hard, waiting for his snappy comeback.

“But, do you really think that it was Wilhelm’s fault? I mean, with the way the world economy was going back then, it was kind of inevitable that Germany would go against Bismarck’s advice,” he snapped back, propping his feet on her dashboard. She slapped his leg, and he promptly took them down, shooting her a dirty look.

“Well, we don’t know that it was inevitable,”

“And we don’t know that it wasn’t inevitable,” he smirked, knowing that he had finally beaten her. Ugh, fuck, she thought. She loved arguing with him… it was fun. It was the closest she would come to an actual sparring match and she loved these debates. She couldn’t really argue with anyone else like this because she never wanted to step on their feelings or let it get to the point where it was personal. With Bellamy, she pulled no punches and neither did he. She just hated it when he managed to outsmart her… but this time it was only because they were arguing about history… and he has quite the advantage there.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, and Clarke realized this was the first time they had stopped talking since they left Arkadia three hours ago. It had felt like they had been driving for less than an hour, and Clarke was genuinely surprised that it had been this easy to ride with him. Sure, they argued about a million different things in those three hours, but it felt natural.

“Can you check my phone?” she asked, wondering if she had any new text messages.

“Why the fuck do so many people text you?” he asked, scrolling through her phone.

“Just tell me what they say,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Octavia says ‘sorry for sticking you with bell,’” he said, and Clarke could practically hear him rolling his eyes. “Your mom wants you to check in once you get to Polis.”

“Anything else?”

“Jasper is livetexting his ride, so you can just read those later,” he muttered. He seemed off, she realized. She quickly glanced over at him, careful to not look away from the road for too long. His jaw was clenched as he scrolled through her phone.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she snapped.

“You have some messages from Finn also,” he practically growled, and Clarke felt something sink in her stomach. Finn had been blowing up her phone ever since Raven showed up. Apparently, he kept trying to talk to her at work and showed up at Roan’s apartment. He just wouldn’t leave her alone. And she was fucking exhausted.

“Delete them,” was all she said, and she could see Bellamy’s head shoot up.

“You don’t want to know what they say?” he asked, sounding incredibly confused.

“Nothing he has to say matters. He has a girlfriend that loves him. What happened between us was a mistake,” she said, clenching her jaw. It was a mistake. She knew better, and that’s what made it all worse. She knew she wasn’t in a place where she could have a real relationship. She was horrible at choosing people who were good for her and this was just proof of that.

The two of them sat in silence for a while after that. Bellamy deleted Finn’s texts and then leaned back in his chair.

“Why haven’t you told her?” he asked, and Clarke felt her heart start pounding. That’s what everyone wanted to know. Octavia drilled her about it whenever she got the chance. Roan wouldn’t let it go. And now, Bellamy fucking Blake was joining them in this interrogation.

“Because I know how it feels to get your heart broken like that and maybe I don’t want to make someone else feel that,” she snapped, eyes fixed on the road.

“She’s going to find out,” he added. Clarke rolled her eyes. She knew he was right. It was what Octavia and Roan had been telling her.

“How do I tell someone that I screwed their boyfriend? She loves him, Bellamy! She has their whole life planned out! She dropped everything to be with him here,” she ranted, feeling tears start to form in her eyes.

She let her guard down and let Finn in. Now, she knew what it was like to have someone who cared about her and was there for her and made her feel safe and special and overwhelmingly happy. And then, all of the sudden it was gone. Because it never belonged to her. It belonged to Raven.

“It’s because she loves him that she needs to know. You can’t let her dedicate the rest of her life to this asshole without knowing what kind of person he really is!” Bellamy practically shouted. Why was he so damn invested in this? This literally had nothing to do with him and yet he was getting more worked up than Roan and Octavia combined. Clarke forced herself to take a deep breath. She needed to stay calm. She needed to not have a breakdown while driving.

“This really isn’t your business,” she whispered, focusing all of her attention on the signs on the side of the road. One mile until the next rest stop.

“When you spend all of your nights crying in my bed about this guy who keeps showing up to my apartment, it kind of becomes my business, Clarke!”

“You insisted I slept in your bed! I was fine on the couch! And I never asked you to keep Finn away from me!”

“Well, excuse me for trying to help you!” Clarke forced another deep breath.

“I never asked for your help,” she said calmly, trying to channel all of her energy into keeping calm until the rest stop.

Bellamy let out a sigh, banging his head against the headrest. “You’re fucking impossible,” he muttered.

She didn’t say anything in response. She merged into the right lane to turn into the rest stop.

“I thought we weren’t going to stop for another hour,” he said, jerking up to look at Clarke.

“I just need a minute,” she whispered, not looking over at Bellamy. He kept his gaze on her, and she could feel it burning into the side of her face.

“Clarke, are you okay?” he asked, reaching over to touch her arm. She jerked it away as she pulled into a parking spot. She parked the car, before pulling the keys out of the ignition and hopping out of the car. Bellamy followed her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Clarke forced another deep breath before sliding down against her car door and sitting on the ground. There was no one else at this rest stop, which she was grateful for, because this was the moment where all the tears started pouring out. She pulled her knees into her chest, wrapping her arms around them, burying her head in her knees.

“Clarke, I’m sorry,” Bellamy whispered, suddenly right next to her. How long had he been there? She had only been sitting like this for a few minutes, but didn’t hear him sit next to her.

“I just need a minute,” she whispered, not lifting her head up. Her tears were still pouring out and she was not about to let Bellamy Blake see her horrible crying face.

At some point, he had gotten up and left, she realized when she finally looked up. She vaguely recalled that he had told her something, but she didn’t listen. She was starting to calm down, which was a relief. She looked at her phone to check the time and was relieved when it had only been ten minutes. Not that it really mattered anyway, she realized. They were already running late. Ten minutes wouldn’t make a difference.

She stood up, stretching her legs a little. Then, she got back in the driver’s seat to wait for Bellamy to come back. After a few minutes, the passenger side opened and Bellamy slid in holding a lot of snacks.

“I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for so I kind of got a little bit of everything,” he explained, showing Clarke all of his vending machine purchases. She grabbed the sour gummy worms and shot him a smile.

“Thank you,” was all she said before pulling into reverse and Bellamy sighed.

“I’m really sorry. You’re right. It wasn’t my business,” he added, putting his hand on Clarke’s arm.

“It’s okay. You were just trying to be a good friend,” she replied, smiling softly. Yeah, Bellamy was trying to be her friend.


	8. Bed, Wed, Behead

“Just go to sleep,” he suggested for the millionth time. Clarke was yawning in between sentences, trying to keep herself awake. Bellamy had been driving for a little over an hour and Clarke was doing her best to help him stay awake and alert by talking to him… but it was clear that poor girl needed some sleep.

“No, I’m fine,” she murmured, rubbing her eyes. Bellamy rolled his eyes. Stubborn as always, he thought to himself.

“Clearly,” he added, eyes fixed on the road now. It was late afternoon now, but they still had a few more hours of sunlight left in the day. They should be at Polis before it was dark.

“Your turn.”

“Okay, bed, wed, behead: Jasper, Roan, and Murphy,” he said, smirking to himself. They had been playing fuck, marry, kill for a while now, and then Clarke suggested they do the Henry VIII version: bed, wed, behead.

“We agreed not to do any with our coworkers in it,” she snapped, sitting up to point her finger at him.

“Oh, come on. Please, princess,” he teased.

“Behead Murphy. That one was easy,” she said without hesitating and Bellamy started chuckling in response.

“Alright so are you going to bed or wed Jasper?”

“Ugh, I really don’t want to do either, no offense to Jasper.”

“You have to do one of them,” he teased again, earning a smack to his shoulder.

“Fine. Bed Roan and wed Jasper,” she said, scrunching up her nose.

“Was that so hard?” he said, holding back his laughter as much as possible. “If it makes you feel better, I would have made the exact same choices.” She snorted from laughing so hard and that made Bellamy smile a bit.

“Bed, wed, behead: Bree, Harper, and Luna.” Hmm. That was a hard one, if he was being honest. He really didn’t know Harper or Luna and wasn’t particularly attracted to either.

“I honestly don’t know any of them that well,” he explained, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Well, you know Bree pretty well from what I’ve heard,” Clarke teased and Bellamy raised his eyebrows in response.

“How do you know about that?” he practically shouted, trying to figure out how anyone knew about what happened last summer. He didn’t tell anyone and was pretty sure Bree didn’t either.

“Your bedroom shared a wall with Roan. Walls are thin,” she shrugged with a teasing grin. Bellamy could feel his face flush bright red, as he tried not to make eye contact with Clarke.

“Wed Harper. She seems like a sweet person and therefore must be wife material,” he explained quickly, trying to change the subject. Clarke nodded as he continued, “Behead Bree because she keeps missing her shifts and making my life difficult. Bed Luna because why not?”

“Fair enough.”

They drove silently for a while, and Bellamy thought that Clarke had finally fallen asleep. He was enjoying talking to her, of course. But, he also knew that she looked exhausted and could probably use a quick nap. He glanced at her and saw her leaning against the window, eyes closed.

He redirected his attention back to the road before he heard, “Still awake.” He rolled his eyes.

“Go to sleep.”

“You’re driving my car,” she mumbled, not even opening her eyes. “There’s no way I’m going to fall asleep while a Blake is at the wheel.”

“I’m not Octavia. I’m a good driver.”

“Octavia learned how to be a horrible driver from someone. Don’t think I haven’t figured out that you were the one that taught her how to drive,” she snapped, still mumbling.

“Some people are just bad students,” he joked, understanding Clarke’s hesitation. Octavia was one of the worst drivers he had ever seen. Not only was she always speeding, but she also never checked her mirrors before merging. The idea of her driving all day in his truck stressed him out to no end.

“Bellamy, can I ask you something?” she asked sleepily, and his stomach dropped. He hated it when people asked that. It was nerve wrecking and just built up anticipation. He had no idea what she was about to ask… and that scared the shit out of him. “Why are you fighting like this with Octavia?”

“It’s complicated,” was all he said in response, not really wanting to talk about it.

“I get that you don’t like Atom, but---“

“I do like Atom,” he interrupted, getting frustrated. He forced himself to take a breath so that he didn’t snap at Clarke anymore. “But, he is exactly like every guy Octavia has dated before. There’s a reason those relationships never worked out.”

“You can’t make her see it like that, though. Especially if you’re fighting her on this,” she murmured, turning herself toward him. She leaned the side of her face against the headrest, keeping her eyes closed.

“Yeah, I figured that out once she stopped speaking to me. Now, I’m playing a waiting game,” he muttered, sighing slightly. He just had to wait for Octavia to move on from this drama or for Bellamy to be proven right about Atom. He heard her phone go off, and Clarke grabbed it, opening her eyes to read the message. She then threw her phone back down, groaning. “Finn?” he asked, knowing that’s exactly who it had to be. She groaned again in response.

“That’s twelve texts just today!” she murmured, leaning back into the headrest, and closing her eyes.

“Block his number,” he suggested, knowing that she would probably never do that. She seemed pretty convinced that she and Finn would go back to being friends after a while and all of this could be forgotten. Bellamy knew better. He was there when she snapped and punched him. He was there to see the look of sheer panic on her face whenever Finn approached her. He was there for her breakdown earlier that day. This whole thing with Finn was going to get much worse before it got better.

“I just don’t get it,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes again. “His girlfriend is here and she’s great. Why the fuck can’t he leave me alone?”

Bellamy shook his head, not knowing what to say.

“I just want him to forget about me,” she continued, sighing a little as she finished.

“You’re not the kind of girl that a guy could forget about,” he said a little too quickly, instantly regretting it. Sure, they were getting along but they weren’t really at this place yet. She would probably read into this too much and it would be weird.

He didn’t really mean for it to sound like it did. He just meant that she’s different and memorable. She doesn’t think the way other people do, which makes her incredibly interesting but sometimes frustrating. Her appearance was pretty striking, or at least Bellamy thought so. There were a million adjectives he could use to describe Clarke Griffin, some good and some bad… but forgettable was not one of them.

They sat there in silence for a few moments and Bellamy was mentally kicking himself. She was weirded out by what he said… he knew it. He glanced over at her to try to get a read on her face. But, she was dead asleep.

Oh, thank God, he thought to himself. She must have missed all of that. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

 

Bellamy drove for another two hours, kind of enjoying the silence. He quickly discovered that Clarke sometimes talked in her sleep… which was kind of adorable. It was mostly gibberish, but her random speech managed to keep him from getting too much in his own head.

He was getting worked up thinking about how he was going to talk to Octavia once he got to Polis. It was clear that these fights just were not working. She wasn't letting up and neither was he. That’s how he got stuck carpooling with Clarke… not that he really minded anymore.

He had always known that he had been a little rash on his judgement of Clarke a year ago, but refused to admit it. She came off as this pretentious brat who looked down on everyone, and it pissed off Bellamy like no other… but, by the end of last summer, he knew that wasn’t true. What was confusing him was how he ended up caring about her. He thought back to the first week of this summer, to when he first heard about her dad. Maybe that was the moment, he wondered, recalling how often he checked up on her after that.

Maybe it was that day she filled in for Bree. After spending a day with her, maybe she had just crept up on him. They had fun together, despite how annoyed she was with him. He remembered how he clenched up when she told him she was hanging out with Finn. It wasn’t that he was jealous. He was absolutely not jealous nor did he have any reason to be. But, he cared about Clarke and he knew that Finn was going to be trouble. That’s all it was.

Maybe it was when Raven showed up. He always told himself that his wanting to warn Clarke was more to prevent bad fights between employees, but it was always more than that. He didn’t want her to get hurt… and, God, did she get hurt. He still wanted to bash Finn’s head in, not that it would be necessary considering that princess has more than proven that she could do that herself. That made him smile a little bit, making him thankful Clarke was asleep so he wouldn’t have to explain that smile.

It was comforting to know that Clarke was more than capable of taking care of herself. That should have made it easier for him to stop worrying about her… but he didn’t. No, he had Wallace reassign her so that she wouldn’t have to be around Finn. He tucked her into his bed each night before sleeping on the couch. He had Miller keep an eye on Finn during the day. Yes, Clarke could take care of herself. But, Bellamy could make it so that she never had to.

He pulled up to a gas station, realizing that the tank was almost empty. Clarke didn’t stir, so he quietly crept out of the car to fill up the tank.

He was going to let Clarke keep sleeping, he decided, as he purchased a cup of coffee to help him stay awake. They only had two more hours until Polis. He could make it.

When he got back in the car, Clarke was still asleep. He studied her for a second, brushing her hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful, he noticed. When she was awake, she was always in her own head about something, furrowing her eyebrows. She always looked like she was fighting something. It was kind of nice to see her completely at peace, not having to fight anything.

 

He had been driving for about twenty minutes when he heard it. Clarke said his name in her sleep, which threw him off. At first, he thought she was waking up so he started talking to her. But, when she didn’t respond, he realized that she was talking in her sleep… which probably meant he was in whatever dream she was having. And that thought nearly made him swerve into another lane. Luckily, he jerked the wheel back… which woke Clarke up.

“How long was I asleep?” she murmured, rubbing her eyes. Bellamy swallowed, trying to focus on what she was saying. How long was she asleep? He couldn’t remember how long he had been driving all of the sudden, because he couldn’t stop wondering what her dream was about. And why he was in it enough for her to say his name.

“A while,” he replied, shaking his head. He was probably in her dream just because she had been talking to him all day. It didn’t mean anything, he reminded himself.

“Are you okay?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him. He nodded, and she tilted her head but kept looking at him. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just a little out of it,” he quickly replied, trying to get his head back on his shoulders.

“For fuck’s sake! You let me sleep for two hours!” she shouted, slapping his arm. Yeah, that was enough to make him snap out of it.

“You were tired.”

“I told you not to let me fall asleep,” she grumbled, crossing her arms like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. He rolled his eyes.

“Someone’s gotta take care of you since you apparently aren’t taking care of yourself,” he said with a smirk.

“My knight in shining armor,” she muttered, and he could hear her rolling her eyes. He started chuckling.

 

The rest of the ride was easy, with Clarke taking the wheel for the last hour, giving Bellamy a chance to nap. He woke up when they arrived at their new apartments. He sleepily helped Clarke unload her car before heading up to his apartment. It was a similar layout to the last one and he had the same roommates, which he was thankful for. He unpacked quickly before heading to Octavia’s room.

When he knocked on her door, Raven answered and let him in. She went back over to the couch where Finn was sitting and Bellamy had to take a deep breath. Not right now, he reminded himself. He went over to the room Raven pointed him to and knocked. Octavia answered quickly and her face fell.

“Can we stop this?” was all he said, and he said it so passively that it surprised Octavia. He was just tired. He was too tired to keep fighting with her. He was tired of dancing around their problems and her boyfriend and he was just done.

“Bell, I’m sorry,” was all she said in response before hugging him. He rested his chin on top of her head, closing his eyes. He didn’t care about the horrible things she had said to him. He didn’t care that she took his truck today. None of it mattered anymore.

They went into her room and talked for a while, not really working through their issues… but it was still nice. She talked about her ride with Atom and all the fun places they stopped at along the way and Bellamy did his best to look happy for her. She prodded him with questions about his ride with Clarke and he dodged all of them. Then, he remembered that Clarke was also sharing an apartment with them.

“Is Clarke here?” he asked a little too eagerly, which would have normally earned an eyebrow raise from Octavia.

“I thought she was at your apartment since Finn is here,” she said, looking up in confusion. She went to grab her phone and dial Clarke’s phone. No answer.

“I’ll go look for her,” he said, standing up to leave the room. He texted a few of his coworkers to ask if she was in their apartments, but she wasn’t. Her car was still in the parking lot, which meant that she couldn’t have gone far. Where would Clarke go, he wondered, looking around. There wasn’t a lot within walking distance here. He went through the building’s lobby, but she was nowhere to be seen. He walked outside and dialed her phone again. Then, he heard a phone ringing before hearing the sound of something being thrown.

“Clarke?” he yelled, not really sure which direction those noises came from.

“Not in the mood, Bellamy,” he heard her snap. He followed her voice, finding her sitting next to the pool with her sketchbook in her lap.

“You really shouldn’t be out by yourself this late at night,” he warned, going through the gate to sit next to her.

“Why not? You’re doing it,” she muttered, not looking up from her sketch. He groaned, throwing his head back. Of course, she was going to be difficult right now.

“I’m only doing it because I was looking for you,” he snapped, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Well, you found me,” she replied coolly, her face almost unreadable.

“Want to stay at my apartment tonight?”

“I can’t just come running to you and Roan every time they’re in my apartment,” she muttered, shaking her head.

“Well, you taking off and not talking to anyone isn’t really a good solution either.”

“Bellamy, stop,” she pleaded, still not looking up.

“Come on,” he said, nodding his head in the direction of his apartment.

“Fine,” she muttered, slamming her sketchbook shut and standing up. “But, I’m sleeping on the couch.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him as he stood up.

“You know I’m just going to carry you to my bed once you fall asleep anyway,” he said exasperatedly, tired of having this argument with her every single time.

“You’re impossible,” she groaned, marching toward the gate. Bellamy followed quickly behind her, smirking.


	9. The List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a shorter one, but it's still fun I promise. There are going to be some new characters added in the next few chapters, which I'm excited about. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for all the feedback! I'm gonna try to get another chapter up before the weekend is over, especially since I've got a crazy week coming up. Let me know what you guys think! These comments give me so much life.

Miller couldn’t believe how out of shape he had gotten… but it really shouldn’t have been a surprise given how long he was injured for. He was currently sprawled out on his couch, recovering from their opening day in Polis. He forgot just how hard they went in the arenas on the weekends. Holy fuck.

“I can’t feel my legs,” he groaned, earning a laugh from Bellamy. He slid a beer over to him on the coffee table and Miller struggled to reach for it.

“Sit up and you’ll get it,” Bellamy said, still laughing. But, Miller didn’t know if he could sit up, so he just leaned a little more off the couch to try and grab it. Then, he almost slipped off the couch. Bellamy groaned before standing up to put the beer directly in Miller’s hand.

“Wake the fuck up!” Roan yelled as he came in through the front door, followed by Wells and Clarke. Miller groaned, forcing himself to sit up. Fuck, his abs hurt.

“What is this about?” Bellamy asked, smirking at Roan. The three of them were carrying a little too much beer for just a normal night at Medici Magic. Oh fuck, Miller realized.

“Guys night!” Wells shouted, slamming a case of beer on the kitchen counter. Clarke was rolling her eyes.

“Then, why is Clarke here?” Miller asked.

“Oh, I’m not staying. Roan just didn’t want to make two trips and needed me to carry shit,” she explained, placing a few bags on the kitchen table.

“I offered to make her an honorary guy for tonight,” Roan added, shooting Clarke a glare.

“No thank you,” she muttered before walking out the door.

“Please tell me it’s just us for guys night,” Bellamy pleaded. Of course, it wouldn’t just be them, Miller thought.

“Nope. All of the guys at Medici Magic… minus Wallace of course,” he said with a smirk. Bellamy clenched his jaw, and Miller knew exactly what he was thinking. It was a horrible idea to have Finn and Bellamy in the same room especially when alcohol was involved.

“This is a horrible idea,” Miller groaned, throwing a pillow at Roan.

“We think it’ll be a good bonding activity,” Wells added, smiling at Roan.

Miller shot Bellamy a stern look. “You’re not allowed to punch Finn,” he snapped, pointing his finger at Bellamy.

“No promises,” he muttered as he got up to get another beer.

“Or Atom!” Roan added, earning a laugh from Miller. This was going to be a weird night.

 

It was strange having all the guys gathered in their little apartment. He had hardly spoken to Jasper or Finn in the past few weeks… probably because they didn’t directly work together. Meanwhile, this was the first time he had hung out with Atom or Murphy in a way that didn’t involve armor, lances, and swords. He realized how little he really knew about any of these guys.

An hour ago, Roan had taken Miller’s phone out of his hand and chewed him out for texting instead of talking to the people there. He hoped Jackson wasn’t worrying about why he never texted him back… but he’d get his phone back in a while, once Roan was drunk enough to not pay attention.

Miller had started talking to one of the new additions to the group. He had joined once they arrived to Polis and he seemed like a cool dude. Miller snuck a glance over at Bellamy, who was wallowing in the corner of the room, not talking to anyone. He sighed.

“Is he always like that?” Lincoln asked, following Miller’s gaze.

“I want to say no, but I really shouldn’t lie,” he joked, before walking over with Lincoln to Bellamy. “Bellamy, have you met Lincoln yet?”

Bellamy stood up and reached his hand out to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said in the most polite tone he could manage, but Miller could tell he was pissed about something. Roan came over at that moment, throwing an arm around Bellamy, earning a groan from him.

“Is it Atom or Finn?” Roan asked, smirking at Miller. Bellamy shot him a dirty look.

“I promised O that I would lay off Atom,” he muttered, sitting back down.

“Oooh so it’s Finn,” Miller teased, and Lincoln tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh, sorry Lincoln. Finn broke Clarke’s heart and Bellamy has a really weird thing for her so he hates Finn,” Roan explained, while messing with Bellamy’s hair. Bellamy smacked Roan’s hand away.

“I do not have a thing for Clarke. We are friends. Excuse me for not liking the asshole who royally screwed her over,” he snapped. Roan shot Miller a look.

“I don’t know. It seems like quite an overreaction for just disliking someone,” Lincoln joined in, and Roan threw his hands up in the air as if to say I know, right? Bellamy shot Lincoln a glare, as if to say don’t you dare start. Jasper walked up to join them.

“What are we talking about?” Jasper slurred, smiling a ridiculously huge grin.

“How Bellamy wants to have Clarke’s babies but won’t do anything about it because he’s a fucking idiot,” Miller explained, earning a punch to the arm from Bellamy. Worth it.

“I don’t want to have her babies!” he shouted, throwing himself back in the chair. Roan started cackling, before pulling out his phone to start typing.

“Oh, that whole phrase is going on the list,” he said, still laughing.

“What list?” Bellamy snapped, and Roan and Miller exchanged a look. It was about time Bellamy found out about the list.

“We’ve been keeping a list of the ridiculous things that you say about Clarke,” Miller explained, and Jasper leaned against the wall, laughing uncontrollably. Jasper had added a lot a phrases to the list over the last two years and knew all too well how annoyed Bellamy was going to be at this.

“What kind of things are on the list?” he snapped, grabbing the phone out of Roan’s hands.

“My personal favorite was when you called her a beautiful bitch,” Jasper said, leaning on Bellamy’s shoulder. “It’s like the most complimentary insult you’ve ever given her.”

“You guys have been keeping this list for a whole year?” he snapped, glaring at Miller. Miller could not care less. This was totally worth it.

“We wanted to properly document the level of denial you are in about being madly in love with Clarke,” Roan teased, nudging Bellamy’s shoulder. Bellamy was still scrolling through the list.

“There is no way I said all of these things,” he muttered, furrowing his eyebrows at Roan’s phone.

“He didn’t deny it,” Jasper pointed out excitedly, causing Bellamy’s head to shoot up.

“She and I are barely friends. I literally just stopped hating her,” he snapped. Roan snatched his phone from Bellamy’s hand and started typing.

“You better get that whole phrase, Roan. Coming from him, that was practically a love confession,” Miller teased, and Bellamy stormed away, causing the rest of them to keel over from laughing too hard.

 

The rest of the night seemed to go pretty well, Miller thought. With the notable exception of Atom and Murphy almost getting into a fight, which Bellamy broke up pretty easily and Murphy went back to his apartment. The night was starting to slow down, with a lot of people calling it a night and going to bed… which was probably smart given how early they all had to get up the next morning. Miller was sitting in the living room next to Bellamy, who had finally stopped being pissed off at him. Monty and Finn were sitting opposite of them and Lincoln was in one of the arm chairs. Bellamy’s phone got a text, and he was furrowing his eyebrows at the screen.

“What’s wrong?” Miller muttered, leaning his head on Bellamy’s shoulder.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he replied absentmindedly, typing something into his phone. Miller lifted his head up to glare at him. “Clarke’s not coming over tonight. That’s all,” he muttered, eyes not moving from the screen. Miller noticed Finn’s head shoot up and look in their direction. Oh, fuck, Miller realized. That would probably be taken way out of context.

“Oh, is she actually sleeping in her own bed tonight?” Roan asked as he sat down on the other side of Bellamy, before looking up and realizing who was still there. He shot a concerned look at Miller, who just shook his head. Bellamy finally looked up and noticed Finn glaring at him. Miller held his breath because Bellamy fucking smirked back at him, probably realizing exactly what Finn suspected.

“Yeah,” he replied, not breaking eye contact with Finn. “Guess she got tired of mine.” Finn sat there for a second, swallowing and keeping his eyes fixed on the floor. He muttered something about how late it was getting before standing up to leave. Bellamy stood up when he did, making sure to look down at him as he reached out his hand. “Thanks for stopping by, Finn,” he said, still smirking. Finn quickly shook his hand to say goodbye and practically ran out of their apartment.

“Why the fuck did you do that?” Miller asked, groaning.

“You know exactly why he did that,” Roan added, throwing his head back into the couch.

“You really think it’s a good idea for Finn to think you’re sleeping with Clarke?” Miller said, smacking Bellamy in the back of the head.

“Maybe he’ll leave her alone now that he thinks she’s moved on,” he explained, heading into the kitchen. Roan and Miller followed him and sat down by the counter where Wells was.

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” Miller shouted, as Roan quickly explained to Wells what had just happened. His jaw dropped.

“That guy is terrified of me. He won’t go near her, now. Problem solved,” Bellamy muttered into his beer. Roan, Wells, and Miller took turns exchanging worried looks. Their friend was a total idiot who just got himself in a pissing match with Clarke’s ex. Miller groaned. He had hoped the drama would just stay at Arkadia… but of course it followed them to Polis. They weren’t even halfway through the summer, for fuck’s sake. Bellamy is an idiot.


	10. Did You Start This Rumor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drama. Angst. Drama. Angst. 
> 
> Ya'll know I love the drama and angst. And it definitely took over this chapter. Also, I have a deep love of angry Clarke for some reason.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Your comments always make my day! Love ya'll!

What was killing Clarke was how much she genuinely liked Raven. She was this sarcastic genius who was so easy to talk to. This girl could have been one of her closest friends… if Clarke wasn’t carrying around a huge secret that would ruin everything.

Raven was showing Clarke how their new mics worked, and Clarke was just relieved she wasn’t dealing with Monty anymore. He was a great guy, but really struggled to speak in layman’s terms. Raven got right into it.

“Is every day this chaotic?” Raven asked, looking exhausted.

“Oh, no. The weekends are usually insane, but the rest of the week calms down. Like, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are pretty relaxed.” Clarke was working on a costume change, trying to get back into the swing of things when it came to working in the theater. Wallace made her and Bree switch back for the Polis opening, which frustrated Clarke. Yesterday, Finn pestered her all day and would not leave her alone. She tried her best to ignore how he looked at her both on and off the stage. But, today he hasn’t said a word to her that wasn’t absolutely necessary. She was grateful for that at least. She didn’t like working in the arena as much as the theater… since she didn’t really get to do anything. The guys had all the actual fun and she was just a pretty face announcing things. But, she was in charge of everything in the theater. However, it was nice getting to be the arena, far away from Finn and Raven most of the time. And Finn wouldn’t go anywhere near Bellamy, so Clarke felt more comfortable there.

“Oh good,” Raven answered, sitting down and propping her feet up on one of the crates. “Not sure I would make it if every day was like today,” she continued, chuckling a little.

Clarke finished putting on her flower headpiece, feeling kind of pleased with how she looked today. She got her hair all wavy again, which always looked good with the flowers in her hair.

“So, how long have you and Bellamy been together?” Raven asked casually, and Clarke swears her heart stopped beating for a second. Why on earth did she think that she was with him? Surely, she had picked up on how much they fought by now and probably heard from the rest of the staff about how much they despised each other. Sure, they were friends now… but that was pretty new.

“What are you talking about?” Clarke asked, brows furrowed. Maybe it was a good thing Raven thought she was with someone. This way she wouldn’t suspect that Clarke had slept with Finn. But, why the fuck did she think she would be with Bellamy of all people? Like, if she had thought it was Roan or Wells… that would have at least made sense. But, Bellamy was the most arrogant, infuriating person she had ever met.

“Hey, you don’t have to worry. I won’t tell anyone,” Raven said, smiling and patting Clarke’s shoulder. “Look, Finn told me that he heard about it last night. And I had my suspicions already since you never sleep in our apartment and then drove to Polis with him.” How the fuck did Finn hear about it last night? Who would even start that rumor? Bellamy was at that party. He would have shut down any of those stupid rumors. “Don’t stress. You two seem really great together,” Raven continued, turning around to get back to work.

Clarke sat down, pulling out her phone to check the time. She had twenty-five minutes until the next performance. That was twenty-five minutes that she could use to figure this bullshit out.

She stormed out of the tent, passing Finn in the process, who said nothing to her. Holy fuck, she realized. That’s why he was leaving her alone. He thought she was sleeping with Bellamy. She passed the tavern, briefly glancing at Octavia who was having a pretty serious conversation with Atom. She made a mental note to ask about that later.

Clarke must have had a pretty intense look on her face, because no one tried to stop and talk to her while she walked over to the arena. She did make an effort to politely wave at Lincoln, who just had a worried look on his face.

None of this made any fucking sense, she thought to herself. Literally everyone that was at the party last night would have known exactly why she was sleeping at Bellamy’s apartment. They all knew it was because of Finn. So, how did this rumor even get started?

The crowds were leaving the arena, probably because the joust had just ended. She brushed past the customers, trying to work her way to the field where Bellamy and Miller were cleaning up. Miller noticed her first, taking one glance at her face before calling Bellamy’s name. He looked up at her and immediately had a concerned facial expression. He started racing toward her and she planted her feet and crossed her arms.

“What did he do?” he asked with an angry expression on his face.

“Told his girlfriend that you and I have been sleeping together,” she snapped, trying to get a read on his face when she said those words. At first, he raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth slightly. Then, he slammed his mouth shut and furrowed his eyebrows at her, saying absolutely nothing. Clarke could see that Miller was nearby, paying close attention to what was going on.

Clarke waited a few more moments to see if Bellamy would say anything, but he didn’t. He already knew about this. She glanced back at Miller who had a frustrated look on his face. Miller knew about it, too. She stepped toward Bellamy, noticing how he had clenched his jaw but his eyes were studying her face in a worried way. “You already knew about this, didn’t you?”

“Clarke,” was all he said.

“Did you start this rumor?” she said as calmly as she possibly could. She forced herself to breathe, knowing that her anger might just take over like it did that day she punched Finn.

“I never said it. I just implied---ʺ he started before Clarke interrupted him by slapping him across the face. His eyes widened and Miller stepped farther away from them. Clarke abruptly turned around to walk away. She had a performance to get to and wasn’t going to waste anymore of her time on whatever bullshit Bellamy had for this.

“Clarke!” he shouted, as she walked as fast as she could toward the stage. She could hear his footsteps behind her as he ran to catch up with her. She took another deep breath, noticing that Lincoln was giving her another worried look as she walked past. She blew him off as she made it to the stage tent, and immediately threw herself into getting ready for the performance. Finn scurried out of the room as soon as she entered, which she was relieved by until she realized exactly why he was avoiding her. He thought she was Bellamy’s and he was terrified of him.

Bellamy came running into the tent a few seconds later, and Clarke realized she was kind of trapped. There was nowhere else for her to run off to, at least not for another ten minutes when the show started. “Let me explain,” he said, out of breath. He had a red mark on his cheek from where she slapped him, which secretly made Clarke proud. She clenched her jaw and crossed her arms, making sure to keep her glare as vicious as possible.

“I’m waiting,” she muttered, raising her eyebrows.

“He overheard a conversation I was having with Miller and Roan about you crashing at our apartment. He made some assumptions and I didn’t exactly correct them,” he explained, stepping toward Clarke. She stepped back, not breaking eye contact.

“So, you let him think I’ve been screwing you. And now everyone at work thinks it’s true? Why the fuck would you do that?” she yelled, not really caring who heard her at this point. Maybe things were better a year ago when she and Bellamy fought all the time and it was just a well-known fact that they needed to be separated at all costs. Maybe Wallace will adjust their hours so that she hardly ever had to see him.

“I thought that Finn would back off of you if he thought you were with me,” he explained, putting both of his hands on Clarke’s shoulders before she slapped them away.

“Brilliant plan, dumbass,” she muttered, walking away from him toward the exit.

“I can’t help but notice that it’s been working,” he said smugly, causing Clarke to turn back around. Yes, Finn had been staying away from her, but at what cost? He should just leave her alone because she wants him to, not because she was in some other guy’s possession now. It was fucked up and Bellamy had to know that.

Wait, she hadn’t seen Bellamy all day. How the fuck did he know it was working? “This is the first time I’ve seen you all day. So, how would you notice something like that?” Bellamy turned his eyes away from her, looking like he was thinking through something.

“Okay, I didn’t notice. But, Jasper did and he let me know,” he explained, not making eye contact.

“You have Jasper watching me?” she asked, crossing her arms again. He looked up, shooting her a pleading look. He fucking did and she was going to kill Jasper.

“I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay,” he explained, running his fingers through his hair.

“So, let’s recap. I already knew that you had been threatening Finn. But now, you’ve told him we’re screwing. And apparently you have people watching me for you. And all of this is what? You trying to protect me?” He nodded, eyes fixed on the ground. “I don’t need you to protect me. I’m fine taking care of myself.”

“Well, maybe I want to protect you anyway,” he mumbled, still not making eye contact. Clarke sat down, looking at the clock. She still had five minutes until she had to go on. How did Bellamy get to the point where he wanted to protect her? Not two weeks ago he hated her with a burning passion. This was all so weird and so unlike Bellamy. “I don’t see why you care anyway. The only two people who believe it are Finn and Raven.”

Clarke looked down at the ground, slowly starting to calm down. He had a point. Everyone else probably knew better than to believe this ridiculous rumor.

“Is that what this is?” he asked, clenching his jaw. “You don’t want Finn to think that you’ve moved on?” Clarke’s head shot up, glaring down Bellamy. That was a low blow and he knew it. She stood up to walk over toward him, noticing that he had already started to move toward her.

“This has nothing to do with Finn,” she snapped, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

“What was it about him anyway, Clarke? Because I can’t see how a smart girl like you could be so stupid to fall for that pretentious ass,” he snapped back, and suddenly all of that anger came flooding back into Clarke. He had no right to talk to her like this. He didn’t know anything about Finn. This was just his overprotective big-brother side coming out.

“Maybe it’s because he was actually nice to me. Maybe he always knew just what to say. Maybe it’s because he didn’t make me feel like shit all the time,” she spat, pushing Bellamy’s chest, forcing him backwards. He still towered over her, not breaking the intense eye contact.

“Who gives a shit if he was nice to you? He had a girlfriend and ripped out your heart. Excuse me for trying to help you stay away from an asshole like Finn,” he spat back, his face just a few inches away from hers. Clarke swallowed, trying to keep her composure. He could tell he was getting to her, but Clarke couldn’t stand giving him that satisfaction. Her heart was pounding, furious and confused at everything that had happened. One second he was claiming to be protective over her and the next he was ripping her apart for her decisions. God, she could not understand Bellamy Blake.

“Clarke, can I talk to you?” she heard someone behind her ask. Who the fuck was in here? She whipped her head around to see Raven clenching her jaw and giving her a sad look. Fuck. She heard everything.

Bellamy muttered something before nearly sprinting out of the room. He gave Clarke a concerned look before exiting, but she couldn’t focus on that. All she could feel was her stomach dropping and she thought she was going to be sick. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Raven, I---ʺ

“Stop,” she interrupted. She looked down at the ground, avoiding Clarke’s eye contact. “How long?”

“A little over a week,” she whispered, frozen in place and unable to move. “I didn’t know about you,” she added, feeling overwhelmingly guilty.

“Okay. I had a feeling,” she muttered. “Then, I heard about you and Bellamy and convinced myself that I had been wrong about Finn and everything was fine.” She continued to stare at the ground, tightening her fists. Oh God, Clarke thought. This girl was going to kill her. Clarke took a deep breath and Finn came running into the tent.

“Clarke, you’re late!” he shouted, before looking around the room and seeing Raven. He took one look at her, then looked up at Clarke who avoided making eye contact. She could see him tense up out of the corner of her eye. “Raven,” he started, clearly putting together what had just been said. Raven got up, expression as cold as ice. Then, she started marching toward Finn before punching him right in the eye, knocking him to the ground.

Raven turned to look at Clarke, with a smirk on her face.

“I punched him in the nose when I found out,” was all Clarke managed to add before Bellamy and Jasper came running in. Bellamy froze when he saw Finn on the ground, shooting a look at Clarke right after.

“Clarke, Wallace is going to be pissed if he finds out you’ve punched Finn twice now,” he warned. “Plus, you slapped me today. What the actual fuck is wrong with you?”

“Oh, that one was me,” Raven said, still smirking, patting Bellamy on the back before practically skipping out of the tent. His eyes followed her in disbelief before looking back at Clarke, tilting his head in confusion.

“Holy fuck,” Finn groaned, covering his face with his hands. Jasper came running back in the tent, holding a bag of ice for Finn. Bellamy grabbed it before slamming it onto Finn’s face a little too aggressively. Finn screamed.

“Just be thankful that it was Raven this time. I have a feeling the next one will come from me or Roan,” Bellamy muttered, raising an eyebrow at Clarke. He got up to walk over to Clarke, who hadn’t moved from where she was standing. “You told her?” he asked, with a small smile on his face. Clarke was not amused in the least bit, keeping her glare fixed on him.

“Kind of had to, thanks to you,” she muttered, starting to move toward the exit. Someone needed to go tell the audience that this performance was going to be cancelled.

“You’re welcome,” he said smugly, grabbing her wrist as she tried to leave. She whipped her head back around.

“I hate you,” she mouthed, before storming out.


	11. Just Put a Baby in Her

“How many more times do we have to do that today?” Lincoln asked, trying to catch his breath.

“Three more and then we’re done,” Bellamy explained, patting him on the back before walking back to the tent. He was lucky that Lincoln was willing to help out last minute after Atom didn’t show up. Miller still wasn’t at full strength and there was no way that Murphy and Bellamy could pick up the slack all on their own.

“Good God,” Lincoln groaned in response, following Bellamy. Miller and Murphy were already sitting in the tent, chugging water like their lives depended on it. So far, this was the hottest day of the summer.

“Where the fuck is Atom?” Murphy asked, with an aggressive look on his face.

“Didn’t ask. Wallace just told me he wouldn’t be in today,” Bellamy explained, trying to keep his facial expressions as neutral as possible. It was no secret that he had some issues with Atom, but he was trying his best to be as positive as possible for Octavia’s sake.

Miller rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. “Have you asked Octavia where he is?”

Bellamy groaned, plopping himself down on the ground so he could lie down and throw his arm over his face. “No, she’s pissed at me right now because of the whole Clarke thing,” he muttered. To be honest, he was kind of pissed at Octavia as well, since she didn’t even bother to see his side of things. Admittedly, letting Prince Charming think that he was sleeping with Clarke was not the best plan… but it was working. He was leaving her alone. And Bellamy did that to protect Clarke from Finn. But, of course that’s not how Clarke told the story.

“That’s your own damn fault,” Miller muttered and Murphy groaned in agreement.

“I did the right thing!” Bellamy was throwing his hands up in the air out of frustration. He was worried about her and so he had a few people keep an eye on her. And she was pissed at him for that… that much she made perfectly clear during one of their many screaming matches, stating that she hated being treated like some damsel in distress. He knew she was uncomfortable around Finn so he let Finn believe something that would keep him far away from her. She was pissed at him for that, too, arguing that he was just making himself out to be some alpha male who needed to reassert his dominance.

“Did you?” Murphy asked skeptically and Bellamy threw some mulch at him.

“Yes, I fucking did. It’s not my fault Clarke is too stupid to see that,” he muttered.

“Maybe it’s because you’re bullshitting why you did it,” Miller deadpanned, shooting Bellamy a stern glare. Bellamy glared back, raising one eyebrow, practically daring Miller to finish his thought.

“Don’t start,” he warned. Miller smirked and winked at him. “Clarke and I are just friends.”

“Not right now you’re not,” Murphy pointed out, and Bellamy groaned, throwing himself back down to lie on his back. Clarke was definitely not his friend right now. They spent three days avoiding each other, only to break into screaming matches when running into each other was inevitable. He and Clarke were amazing when it came to fighting with each other; they had mastered it last summer. But, these screaming matches were some next level shit that he was not prepared for. Most of all, they fucking hurt. He couldn’t deny that he now cared what Clarke thought of him… meaning that the blows she dealt out during these fights hurt so much more than they used to.

Then, the fighting stopped. They haven’t spoken in two days, which he should probably be grateful for. But, he missed it in a weird way. He hated fighting with her… but at least when they were fighting it seemed like they both cared just enough to fight over everything. Now, it was like she stopped caring all together. He hoped that wasn’t true. He really did.

“Fuck off, Murphy,” he groaned.

 

During his breaks, Bellamy liked to just walk through the fair. He liked seeing his friends hard at work and seeing the customers’ reactions to everything. Bellamy could remember how excited he had gotten as a kid when his mom first took him to a Renaissance Fair… and just how magical it all seemed to him. Sometimes he forgot about that as he rolled out of bed each day and got ready for work. He forgot just how cool all of this was. Sure, he had hang ups about how not era appropriate his armor was or how there wasn’t more educational booths set up. But other than those, this place was kind of wonderful.

He took a seat at the back of the theater area where Jasper was performing one of his sets. He needed to sit for a little bit in the shade. From what he remembered, Jasper seemed to be toward the end of his performance, where he sang a few songs which were funny as hell. Then, Jasper totally blanked, staring off into the crowd. Bellamy followed his gaze to one of the seats in the back left. He was looking at the new girl Maya who Bellamy had just met yesterday.

Jasper shook his head and started over, very purposefully not looking back in her direction. Oh, this is too cute, Bellamy thought. Jasper had a crush. He immediately pulled out his phone to text Roan about it. After a few minutes, the audience started applauding as Jasper went backstage. Bellamy walked over to where Maya was sitting.

“It’s Bellamy, right?” she asked, smiling sweetly. She had been working with Harper in the medical tent for the past few days, which is why no one had hardly seen her since the opening in Polis.

“Yeah, how have you been doing?” he asked, briefly glancing around to see if Jasper was still nearby.

“Oh, I’ve been good. It’s all just a lot, you know? I’m liking the job, though.”

“Have you gotten the chance to really see the whole fair?” he asked, trying to hide his smirk when Jasper came out from the backstage tents. He made eye contact with him and gestured with his head to come over. Jasper’s eyes widened as he shook his head, which Bellamy responded to by furrowing his eyebrows and narrowing his eyes. Jasper reluctantly came over.

“Not yet.”

“Hey, Jasper!” Bellamy shouted as Jasper slowly walked over. “You don’t have another performance for another hour, right?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at him.

“Uh, no. Not really, no. Why?” Jasper replied, stumbling over his words.

“Well, I have to get back to the arena. But, I thought you could give Maya here the grand tour of the fair,” he said, standing up and patting Jasper on the back. He started walking away before Jasper could say no, and he smirked to himself the whole walk back.

 

When he wasn’t busy in the arena, he hung out with Lincoln. Normally, Lincoln would never work in the arena, even though he seemed to be a natural. He frequently worked in the face painting booth… which is how Bellamy found out that Lincoln had a gift when it came to art.

“These are really fucking good,” he said, going through Lincoln’s notebook.

“Thanks,” he muttered, as if he had never been given a compliment in his life.

“You should show these to Clarke. She’s an artist, too,” Bellamy added, thinking that Lincoln would be a really good friend for Clarke to have. He seemed like a nice enough guy, even though he was a little quiet.

“Yeah, I know. We talked about it when she and Wells took me to dinner last night. She’s really talented,” he added, and Bellamy nodded in response. “You miss her,” he stated matter of fact, which startled Bellamy.

“That’s not---ʺ

“It’s okay,” Lincoln interrupted. “We don’t have to talk about it.” Bellamy put his face in his hands, unsure of how this guy he just met was able to read him this well. He didn’t think it was obvious that he had been missing Clarke, as he had been denying it to himself for two days now.

“It’s not like that,” he felt the need to say, earning an eyebrow raise from Lincoln.

“You forget I was there when you let Finn think you two were together,” he said, patting Bellamy on the back. “The way you talked to Finn wasn’t just protective. It sounded a lot like jealousy,” he explained, keeping an intense look in his eyes. Bellamy looked down and swallowed. He knew he wasn’t jealous because there was nothing to be jealous of. He was definitely not interested in Clarke, and even if he were, it’s not like Finn would ever be real competition. He’s not the kind of guy that Clarke should want and therefore not a threat.

His issue with Finn was absolutely not one of jealousy. It was that he was a pretentious ass who never had any business being with Clarke in the first place. He was the kind of guy who knew how to say all the right things… but that’s not real. Clarke needed someone whose actions showed her how he felt. And that person is definitely not Finn.

 

Bellamy was seriously contemplating if he could just go to bed at 6 p.m. He was exhausted from how hot it was all day. He was lying on the couch, listening to Miller and Roan argue about Roan hogging the washer and dryer because he waited until he had no clean clothes left and then washed everything all at once. Bellamy closed his eyes, pretending not to listen.

Then, he got a text and rolled over to check his phone. It was Clarke.

_Please come over to my apartment._

“Why the fuck is Clarke summoning me to her apartment?” he groaned. Miller and Roan stopped arguing for a moment, walking over to Bellamy. Roan leaned over back of the couch to glare at Bellamy, raising one eyebrow. Bellamy showed him his phone. “Like is she too lazy to come over here to yell at me?”

“Should that one go on the list?” Miller asked, and Roan nodded.

“I hate you both,” Bellamy groaned, sitting up and putting his shoes back on.

“Maybe she’s not going to yell at you,” Roan suggested as Miller typed into his phone.

“Why else would she ask me over?” he snapped, earning an eyeroll from Miller as he didn’t even look up from his phone.

“Maybe this is the day you’ve been waiting for,” Miller deadpanned. “Maybe she is going to confess her undying love for you and then you can stop pretending that you hate her and just put a baby in her.” Bellamy punched him in the arm before storming out of their apartment.

Clarke’s apartment was several doors over, unlike in Arkadia where she was just next door. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Clarke opened it immediately, shooting him a warning look.

“I’m here. Feel free to start yelling at me from the convenience of your own apartment,” he snapped, pushing past her into her living room.

“That’s not---ʺ she started before he interrupted.

“Look, I get it. You’re pissed at me. But, you don’t just get to decide when we start talking again, especially after you spent three days chewing me out and then another two completely ignoring me!”

“Bellamy---ʺ she tried to jump into the conversation, but he didn’t let her.

“We are supposed to be friends, Clarke!” he yelled, throwing himself down on her couch. She was still standing by the doorway, arms crossed but with a concerned look on her face. “We’re supposed to talk about shit and work it out, not throw a temper tantrum and ignore each other,” he muttered. There was a knock at the door, and Clarke shot him a warning look before opening it. It was Jasper.

“How is she?” he asked, shooting a confused look at Bellamy.

“How is who?” Bellamy asked, realizing that he’s missing something.

“Atom skipped town, Bellamy,” Clarke explained, shooting him a glare. “Didn’t even say goodbye to Octavia. I asked you to come over so you could comfort her, you asshole,” she muttered, before walking toward her room, bumping her shoulder into Bellamy as she walked past, pushing him out of her way.

“Clarke,” he said, following her toward her room. Jasper stood there awkwardly for a few moments before leaving the apartment. Clarke slammed her door shut, leaving Bellamy completely alone.

Bellamy swallowed, as he headed toward Octavia’s room. When he opened the door, she was curled up in bed sobbing.

“Bell,” she whispered, patting her bed next to her for her to come join.

“It’s okay,” he whispered back, kissing her forehead.

“You were right,” she muttered, turning into his chest and sobbing even harder.

“I didn’t want to be,” he replied, pressing his cheek to the top of Octavia’s head.


	12. We Aren't Lightweights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the last update for this weekend, for real this time. I hope you guys have like this chapter and the other one I posted today. Let me know what you think!
> 
> The next update might take a little longer since I've got some angst and drama coming up :)

“To girl’s night!” Raven shouted, raising her beer up. Clarke and Octavia begrudgingly joined in, still not sold on going out tonight. Raven really didn’t care. She decided earlier that day when she looked at the weather and realized they would get rained out the next day that tonight was the perfect time for a much-needed girl’s night.

“To getting super drunk and forgetting about Atom!” Clarke joined in, nudging Octavia’s shoulder.

“And let’s not forget about Lord Douchebag, Finn!” Octavia finally joined in, a little bit unenthusiastic.

The three of them had walked down the street to the first bar they could find, and since it was a Monday night, there weren’t many people there. The bar was relatively understaffed, which meant it took longer for them to get drinks. But, they were fine with that. It gave them more time to talk before they got hammered.

 

Once they were a few drinks in, the bar started to fill up. As it turns out, Octavia was a very loud drunk.

“He literally never stopped talking about a tattoo that he hadn’t even gotten yet!” she shouted, slamming her glass onto the table. “Like just fucking man up and get it or shut the fuck up,” she continued with a hiccup.

“Oooh, Clarke. What did you hate the most about Finn?” Raven asked with a smile, thrilled to finally have an occasion where they could have this conversation. Clarke groaned, and Raven knew this was going to be good.

“Okay, for someone that is apparently trained to perform Shakespeare, how the fuck does he not understand the point of Romeo and Juliet? It’s not a fucking love story!”

“Thank you!” Raven shouted back, throwing her hands up in the air. “Personally, I couldn’t stand whenever he would bring up Shakespeare in general. Like his favorite character was fucking Hamlet… in that he admired the character Hamlet, not just the play.”

Clarke groaned. “Like it’s a good fucking play but Hamlet is the ultimate fuckboy!”

“Get a room, you two,” Octavia muttered into her drink. Raven heard the door open behind her and she turned around to see some people from work come in. Octavia followed her gaze. “Get out! We’re having girl’s night!” she shouted at the guys coming in.

“Pretty please, can we stay?” Wells asked, giving Clarke a sideways hug. Jasper plopped down next to Octavia and Monty sat next to Raven.

“You can stay if you don’t mind bashing our exes,” Raven said with a smirk.

“Atom kept drinking my beer, so not a fan,” Monty added in, and Octavia burst out laughing.

“Finn needs a fucking haircut,” Jasper joined in. Raven smiled at Clarke, who genuinely seemed happy. That was nice, she thought. Ever since she had met Clarke, she always seemed sad. Now, Raven was starting to understand why. She had heard things had been rough for her back home for the past year. And with all the guilt she probably felt about Finn, Raven could understand why Clarke wasn’t happy. And now, even with all of that behind them, she still seemed down. Raven and Octavia had a few theories about that, all of which involve Bellamy.

“Jasper, how’s Maya?” Octavia asked, grabbing his arm excitedly. He looked down and started blushing.

“She gave him a hug yesterday and he hasn’t shut the fuck up about it,” Monty answered for him, rolling his eyes.

“Let me have this. You already have Harper!” Jasper said jokingly, wagging his finger at him.

“Ugh, we get it! You’re happy!” Clarke groaned, getting up to get another drink.

“Looks like everyone had the same idea we did!” someone said behind Raven. She turned around and saw Miller, Roan, and Bellamy walking in. Bellamy put his hands on Octavia’s shoulders, before whispering something in her ear and she nodded with a smile.

“You’re interrupting our girl’s night,” Raven warned, and Roan started laughing.

“This was supposed to be a girl’s night?” he asked, gesturing to the table that was now mostly guys.

“Not anymore,” Clarke said, coming back with two shots in her hand. She put one in Roan’s hand. “But, you need to catch up, old man,” she said with a smirk. And he took the shot.

“You know I could drink you under the table,” Roan replied, messing up Clarke’s hair, causing her to scrunch up her nose.

“Or, you know, we could all just drink a responsible amount?” Bellamy interrupted, shooting the two of them a look. Clarke slid the other shot over to him.

“Spoken like someone who can’t keep up,” she said, daring him to take the shot. He clenched his jaw, looking around at the table. Raven could see the wheels turning inside his mind, clearly not wanting to look like a wimp in front of everyone. He stood up, took the shot, and slammed it on the table. Then, he walked around the table to go to the bar, not breaking eye contact with Clarke until he got to the bar.

“God, just fuck already,” Octavia groaned, and Clarke’s head snapped around to shoot her a glare.

“Cheers to that,” Wells said, hitting his glass up against Monty’s. Roan started chuckling, and Clarke turned her glare to face him.

“Don’t you start,” she warned, and his smile didn’t fade as he pulled her into a bear hug. Raven rolled her eyes. Her coworkers were ridiculous.

 

It did not take long for everyone to be completely trashed. Raven was still pacing herself, but finally started to feel it hit. She and Roan were the only non-hammered people in their little group. He had confided the list to her, which apparently was this thing the guys had been keeping since last year and has all sorts of ridiculous things Bellamy has either said about or to Clarke. Raven started wondering if she and Octavia should start keeping their own list.

“Clarke doesn’t say as many ridiculous things about Bellamy, though,” Roan pointed out. “It’s kind of a Bellamy thing.”

“She says some ridiculous things. Just yesterday, she said he was a clusterfuck of a human being,” Raven argued, watching the two of them argue across the room. It wasn’t one of their screaming matches, which was good. Last she had checked in, they were arguing about the group’s plans for the fourth of July.

“Dude, you’ve looked at the list. Bellamy says much worse shit because he needs to compensate for the fact that he has a massive crush on her.” Raven nodded in response, taking another sip of her beer.

“And Clarke doesn’t have a crush on him?” she asked curiously, not entirely sure about Clarke. She was much harder to read.

“I’m not saying that. She just has a tendency to ignore emotions if she finds them inconvenient,” he said, and Raven burst out laughing.

“That’s not a thing!”

“Try telling her that,” he said with a smile, gesturing to Clarke. Raven rolled her eyes again.

“You two don’t look drunk enough,” Octavia interrupted, leaning her head on Roan’s shoulder.

“Someone’s got to make sure you guys get home safely,” Roan said, tapping her nose with his index finger.

“Also, we aren’t lightweights,” Raven added in, earning a scowl from Octavia.

 

Eventually, their little outing started to die down, with Jasper and Monty heading back early. Bellamy switched to water and started forcing Clarke to drink water too.

“I’m fine, Bellamy,” she groaned, playing around with the straw in her glass.

“Drink that whole glass, princess,” he replied sternly, looking around at everyone else at the bar. Raven did the same. Octavia was pretty drunk still and Miller wasn’t much better. What a weird girl’s night.

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, before starting to drink the water. He smirked at her in response and Roan started groaning. Bellamy shot him a look, and Clarke tilted her head in confusion. Raven had to hold back her laughter.

“The party isn’t over!” Octavia shouted directly into Bellamy’s ear, and he let out a sigh before heading to the bar to settle his tab.

“No, we’re taking the party back to our apartment,” Raven lied, hoping that’ll be enough to get her to walk back to the apartment. Maybe she’ll get tired on the way and just pass out when they got there.

 

For the most part, her plan worked. Except for the part where it was Octavia that got worn out and passed out. It was actually Clarke who barely made it back to the apartment, being held up by Roan and Bellamy as they walked back. The two of them got Clarke into bed with ease… but Octavia was not having any of it. She immediately went to the fridge to grab a beer once they got in there. Miller left to go sleep in his room, leaving Raven, Roan, and Bellamy to herd Octavia toward bed.

“I’m not even tired!” she shouted, before shushing herself when they reminded her that Clarke was sleeping.

“But, we’re tired,” Bellamy said, sounding absolutely exhausted.

Octavia sat down next to Roan on the couch to lean onto his shoulder. “Can I tell you a secret?” she whispered way too loudly, and Raven exchanged a glance with Bellamy. Roan nodded, throwing his head back on the couch. “I stole Clarke’s phone,” she said, holding it up.

“Dude, she’s been looking for that for hours!” Raven said, suddenly frustrated with how much Clarke had been freaking out over losing her phone.

“Why did you take her phone?” Roan asked.

“Because Finn was texting her and I didn’t want her to see it,” she said, sinking down in her seat. Bellamy snatched Clarke’s phone out of her hand, before scrolling through the messages.

“That’s a major invasion of privacy,” Roan warned, but Bellamy ignored him as he sat down and looked through her phone.

“Come on, Octavia. Let’s get you to bed,” Raven suggested, and was amazed when Octavia agreed. It was easy enough wrangling her into bed once Raven pulled those ridiculous wedges off her feet. Octavia was out by the time she hit the pillow.

When she walked into the living room, Roan had left and Bellamy was just sitting there, probably not wanting to leave until he knew that Octavia was all good.

“You okay?” she asked, sitting down next to him.

“Yeah,” he answered, putting the phone on the coffee table.

“How bad were they?” He looked down at his feet and shifted awkwardly.

“You probably don’t want to read them,” was all he said. She grabbed the phone and started scrolling through the messages. After the third one, she couldn’t take anymore and put it back down. “Warned you.”

“He never looked at me the way he looks at her,” she admitted, almost surprising herself. Perhaps it was the alcohol talking.

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“No, it is. We were together for a long time and I’ll admit that toward the end we were just together out of habit. But, he never looked at me like that.” She threw her head back into the couch, looking up at the ceiling.

“That’s rough,” he said, leaning back with her.

“Speaking from personal experience?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

“Absolutely not,” he snapped, clenching his jaw.

“Don’t lie to me,” she snapped back, narrowing her eyes at him.

“It’s not like that,” he muttered. Raven shot him another look, and he let out a sigh.

“Ugh, another guy here that’s hopelessly in love with Clarke,” she muttered, trying not to sound too bitter. She didn’t blame Clarke for what happened with Finn. She really didn’t. But, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt to see the way he looked at her. And now, with Bellamy, it just seemed like Clarke was loved by everybody and no one cared about Raven.

“It’s not like that with Clarke,” he snapped, glaring at Raven.

“Prove it.”


	13. Did You Want Her to be Jealous?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I'm loving the comments, you guys. Keep them up. I love hearing what ya'll think!

Bellamy blinked his eyes a few times, scanning the room. This was definitely not his bed, he realized. He rolled out of the bed, putting on his pants and looking for his shirt. When he spotted Raven in the bed, it all came back to him. Fuck, he thought to himself.

He found his shirt and threw it on quickly, trying to get out of there before he woke up Raven. It was still pretty early, and most people wouldn’t be up for a few hours since they didn’t have work today. He found one of his shoes by the nightstand but couldn’t find the other one.

He remembered last night pretty well. He remembered how he ended up sleeping with Raven. He just couldn’t remember why. What the fuck was he thinking? This girl just went through a horrible break up and it wasn’t like Bellamy was even interested in her in the first place.

He paced over to the other side of the room and spotted his shoe under her side of the bed. He quietly crouched down to grab it, stopping dead in his tracks when Raven rolled over to her side. But, she didn’t wake up. Thank God, he thought. He slid it on, grabbed his phone, and went to leave her bedroom.

He quietly closed the door behind him and turned around. And, of course, he wasn’t lucky enough to get out of there before anyone saw him. Clarke was sitting at the kitchen table narrowing her eyes at him with her head tilted to the side slightly. She was eating cereal and had a book in her other hand.

“Good morning,” she said, before redirecting her attention to her book. Her face was completely blank, no irritation or judgement. She just didn’t seem to care.

“Hi,” was all he could say, as he still stood frozen by Raven’s door. Why wasn’t she reacting to this? He stood there in silence for a few more moments before Clarke looked back up at him, tilting her head again.

“You okay?” she asked, as if he was being the weird one right now. She should have some kind of reaction to him spending the night with Raven, right? At least a teasing comment or some judgement. This wasn’t like Clarke at all, he thought, studying her face.

“Uh, yeah.” He finally started to walk forward, past Clarke toward the front door. She was still looking at him, and he thought he needed to say something. This was awkward. “Look, last night things got a little crazy,” he started to explain, not really sure where he was going with this. He had no idea why he slept with Raven. More importantly, he had no idea why he cared what Clarke thought about it.

She turned her attention back to her book, putting the spoon back in the cereal bowl. “Don’t need a play by play, Bellamy. You’re both adults. Live your life,” she muttered, not looking up at him.

He stood there, jaw slightly dropped. “It’s not like I uh,” he continued, pretty sure he was getting into word vomit territory. He had no actual plan for where he was going with this. She slammed her book shut and raised an eyebrow at him.

“This is your reminder that I am not Raven’s only roommate. Maybe get out of here before your nosy little sister finds out,” she suggested, gesturing her head toward Octavia’s room. Fuck, he remembered. He muttered some kind of goodbye before running out of their apartment.

Once he was outside, he braced his hands onto the rails, ducking his head down. What the actual fuck was that? Why was he stumbling around like an idiot around Clarke? And why was she acting like a fucking robot?

He paced outside for a few minutes before going into his apartment. When he shut the door behind him, he heard feet running toward him. He turned around to see Roan smirking at him.

“Someone had a good night,” he said, smirk not fading.

“Roan, don’t,” Bellamy snapped, heading to the kitchen to get coffee started. Yes, last night was fun. But, it was a horrible mistake. He already had enough problems with Finn as it was, but this would make everything that much worse. Plus, he didn’t know if Raven thought this was a onetime thing or not. And then, on top of everything, it’s no longer something that’s just between them. Now, Clarke knew and apparently so did Roan.

“It’s about damn time,” he replied while following him into the kitchen.

“What do you mean it’s about damn time? I literally just met the girl a little while ago,” he snapped, shooting Roan a glare. Roan’s smirk dropped immediately, as he furrowed his eyebrows.

Miller walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on?” he murmured, sitting down at the table.

“Bellamy fucked up,” Roan said aggressively, walking out of the kitchen. Miller shot Bellamy a confused look, causing Bellamy to groan.

“What did you think happened last night?” he yelled into the other room. He could hear the sound of Roan groaning, but didn’t go after him. He had enough going on in his head right now, and he really didn’t need to add Roan’s shit to the list.

“What happened?” Miller asked, looking incredibly confused.

“Bellamy fucked someone other than Clarke!” Roan yelled from the other room and Bellamy threw his hands up.

“It was Raven!” he clarified, storming into the living room. Miller quickly followed.

“Why the fuck would you sleep with Raven?” Miller snapped, but Bellamy was too busy giving a glare to Roan. Roan raised his eyebrows, probably wondering the same thing. And Bellamy didn’t have a good answer to that. He sat down on the couch, throwing his head back.

“That’s not even all of what happened,” he muttered, remembering that Clarke had seen him try to sneak out. “Clarke knows. It’s only a matter of time until everyone else finds out.”

“How did Clarke react?” Roan asked, eyes still narrowed.

“She didn’t react at all. It was weird,” he said, noticing an exchange of looks between Roan and Miller. Why didn’t Clarke have any kind of reaction?

“Why would she?” Miller asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” he muttered in response, more than aware that he was clenching his jaw. Roan started smirking again and Bellamy just wanted to punch him.

“Were you hoping she would have a reaction?” he teased and Bellamy shot him a glare. He got up and went back into the kitchen, trying to get away from these two assholes. This morning was way too fucking much.

“Raven texted you!” Miller shouted, and Bellamy groaned in response.

“Give me my phone,” he growled. He heard Miller and Roan whisper about something.

“It’s a long fucking message that’s basically saying last night was a mistake!” Roan said, coming into the kitchen and staring at Bellamy’s phone. Miller ran in after him, shooting Bellamy an apologetic look. “What texts from Finn is she talking about?”

“Finn texted Clarke last night and we saw the messages on her phone. Raven got upset about it,” he said, trying to brush them off. Why were his roommates so fucking nosy anyway? This was none of their business, and yet they were following him around this morning and annoying the hell out of him.

“And you weren’t upset at all?” Roan prodded, earning a glare from Bellamy.

“Oh my God, you got jealous,” Miller snapped, exchanging a glance with Roan whose eyes widened before punching Bellamy in the arm.

“Miller, stop.”

“That wasn’t a denial,” Roan said excitedly, with a huge grin forming on his face.

“Don’t you guys have your own lives?” Bellamy muttered, banging his head into the refrigerator door.

“Is that why you’re mad Clarke didn’t react to you sneaking out of Raven’s room?” Roan teased, earning a chuckle from Miller.

“Stop,” he warned.

“Oh my God,” Miller said excitedly.

“Guys,” he warned again, feeling his grip tighten a little too much on the counter.

“Did you want her to be jealous?” Roan accused, with a huge smile on his face.

“Yes!” Bellamy snapped. Both Miller and Roan’s eyes widened and Bellamy realized what he just admitted. He was upset with Clarke because she wasn’t jealous. He opened his mouth to say something, but had no idea what to say.

“Bellamy,” Miller started, giving side glances to Roan who was giving Bellamy a pensive look, narrowing his eyes. Bellamy put up his hand to say stop, grabbed his mug of coffee, and headed to his room, slamming the door behind him.

When did that become a thing, he wondered, thinking back to last night. He’s never liked Clarke. They fought all the damn time and she had a unique ability to drive him completely insane. He hated Finn before, during, and after they were together, which he had attributed solely to him being the absolute worst and nothing else.

He had Clarke had gotten closer, sure. He didn’t hate her… to be honest he almost admired her. She was this incredibly confident person who was pretty easy to get along with, as long as he didn’t purposefully antagonize her. He had great times with her whenever it was just the two of them… and he almost looked forward to them. And, it killed him when she was pissed at him last week. He was miserable when they weren’t speaking, and felt like shit when they did fight.

He threw himself back onto his bed, groaning. Bellamy might just have feelings for Clarke Griffin, the most infuriating, beautiful girl he has ever known. Fuck.

 

It didn’t take long for word to get around about him and Raven, although that wasn’t Clarke’s fault. Apparently, Octavia overheard their hook up that night, a fact that makes Bellamy incredibly uncomfortable, and told anyone who would listen. Most people had a lot of opinions about it, which pissed him off. The only person who didn’t seem to care, other than Clarke, was Finn. Bellamy had briefly talked to Raven, who didn’t seem to be given a hard time by anyone, including Finn. His coworkers probably thought that she was entitled to her rebound and left it at that.

Bellamy, on the other hand, was given a hard time by literally everyone, especially his little sister.

“You are such a dumbass,” she muttered, not even glancing back at him as she restocked the shelves.

Bellamy placed the next container on the counter, before turning around to get another. “We are two consenting adults. Get over it,” he snapped.

“So, you’re allowed to give me shit about my love life all you want, but I can’t say anything about yours?” she said, raising her eyebrows.

“She’s got a point,” Lincoln added, unloading the dishwasher.

“Thank you,” Octavia said harshly, directed entirely at Bellamy.

“We’re not friends anymore, Lincoln,” he groaned and Lincoln started chuckling.

“I’m just saying, you spent all night flirting with Clarke and went home with Raven? How the fuck does that even happen?”

“I was not flirting with Clarke,” he snapped, even though he knew that was kind of a lie. He wasn’t purposefully flirting with Clarke. He didn’t know that’s what he had been doing.

“I wasn’t even there, and I can tell you that you were probably flirting with Clarke,” Lincoln added with a smirk, and Bellamy threw a piece of cardboard at him. Octavia’s eyes lit up, all of the sudden.

“Clarke!” she shouted, gesturing for Clarke to come over. Bellamy turned around, seeing that Clarke had been just walking by. She was wearing that red dress that she didn’t wear all that often, with her hair in a braid. He had to admit, she looked stunning in red.

“Yeah?” Clarke said, walking into the tavern.

“How are you? I haven’t seen you all day,” Octavia said, with a huge smile on her face that Bellamy knew was meant for him.

“Yeah, well I’ve been keeping busy. Finn’s being annoying today and I don’t really want to be backstage with him too much,” she said, looking frazzled.

“Oooh, I have a task for you if you’re trying to keep busy,” Octavia started, and Bellamy shot her a warning look. Octavia rolled her eyes.

“Okay, hold on, though. I need to talk to Harper really quickly. I’ll be right back,” Clarke said, almost bumping into Bellamy as she walked out. He literally jumped, and could see Octavia holding back a laugh before shooting her another warning look.

As soon as she was out of the room, Lincoln said, “You’re gone, dude.”

“Stop,” he warned.

“Do you not even know how you look at her? Holy fuck,” Octavia said, throwing her hands up.

“Octavia, there is nothing going on between me and Clarke. She doesn’t think about me like that. I mean, she didn’t even react when she found out about Raven,” he explained, trying not to let his frustration come out in his voice. Octavia’s eyes lit up.

“What do you mean she didn’t react?” she said with a growing smile. Lincoln stopped what he was doing to look at Octavia with a confused expression.

“Like her face showed no expression at all. No indication that she was feeling anything at all.” Octavia’s smile grew anymore.

“Oh my God, she was pissed!” she said excitedly, and Bellamy and Lincoln exchanged confused looks.

“No, she didn’t react,” he corrected her, narrowing her eyes.

“Kind of like she did when she found out about Finn?” she asked with a smile, before saying, “Clarke!” when she reentered the tavern.

“Okay, what do you need?” she asked, nodding at Bellamy when she walked by. Oh God, he realized. Her face was exactly like it was when she found out about Finn. She was pissed he slept with Raven. She might be jealous.

“Oh, well I think Bellamy is going to need some help getting these boxes back to the truck,” she started, holding back a smile. Lincoln was smirking, and Bellamy shot Octavia a warning look.

“Okay, cool,” she replied, turning to look at Bellamy with her eyebrows raised.

“Right, let’s go,” he said, gesturing to the empty boxes. She went to pick them up, and he gave Octavia a stern glare while she gave him a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes.


	14. Passive Aggressive Toddler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the longest chapter so far... which is to be expected given how many repressed feelings Clarke has to work through. Anyway, I hope you guys like it! Your comments are great! Please, keep them coming!

They walked in silence for a little too long, Clarke noticed. She justified that by reminding herself that it was hot as hell outside and they were carrying crates and Bellamy was probably just too tired to keep a conversation going. They walked through the walkway with the shop tents.

“Clarke!” she heard someone shout from behind her. Bellamy stopped walking altogether, raising his eyebrows at her. She whipped her head around to see Wells grinning like an idiot and waving her over. She rolled her eyes and shot Bellamy an apologetic look.

“Go,” he said, not even sounding annoyed, as he put his crate on the ground. She did the same before slumping over to Wells, leaving Bellamy behind waiting for her.

“Yeah?” she snapped.

“So, how are things?” he asked with a huge grin on his face. Clarke slapped his shoulder immediately, hoping to wipe that damn smile right off his face.

“Things are fine,” she growled, keeping her voice down.

“Yeah, they look pretty fine to me,” he replied, gesturing his head toward Bellamy. Clarke slapped his shoulder again, causing him to laugh even harder.

“Shut the fuck up,” she whispered, looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was within hearing distance. “Please, just forget about what I said last night. I was drunk. It was nonsense,” she continued, shooting Wells a pleading look.

“Oh, you know I’m not buying that,” he replied with a smirk.

“Will you stop before Bellamy realizes you’re acting weird?”

“I’m acting weird? I’m not the one who likes him.” Clarke punched him in the arm this time, hoping to make her point clear.

“I did not say that!” she almost shouted, before remembering that she was at work, in a public place, and most importantly close enough to Bellamy that he could hear anything she yelled. She turned her head to glance at him, and he was clearly watching them, with his head tilted in confusion.

“No, you admitted to being jealous that he slept with Raven, after literally hours of me prodding before you finally snapped,” he said smugly, crossing his arms. Yes, she admitted she was jealous but it wasn’t like she really meant it. She was shocked that they had hooked up, yes. But jealous of Raven? Absolutely not. Bellamy was not exactly the kind of guy Clarke wanted, especially when he was always such an ass to her. What she really meant was that she was jealous that they had something going on when Clarke was so miserable after Finn. She didn’t give a shit about what Bellamy did and with who. It didn’t matter. It was his life and Clarke didn’t give a single damn.

“Like I said, it was nonsense,” she whispered in a threatening tone.

“And yet here you are helping him out. You finding random excuses to be near his gorgeous cheekbones? That is how you phrased it, correct?” Wells continued to tease, causing Clarke to grind her teeth.

“Context is everything, you idiot,” she spat, before turning around and running right into Bellamy’s chest.

“Oh, hi,” he said with a weird smile, before stepping back. “What’s going on?” he asked casually to Wells, who was struggling to contain his laughter.

“Just making fun of Clarke,” he said, trying to catch his breath between his laughter. Clarke worked a little too hard to get her face back under control, knowing that Bellamy would be suspicious if he caught her glaring at Wells anymore.

Bellamy raised his eyebrow at Clarke and she shook her head, not wanting to get into it with him. “Okay. Clarke, you ready to get going?” She nodded, trying to avoid making eye contact with Wells. God, she could kill him for this. He had been teasing her all morning, and Finn overheard some of it and so he has been acting weird too. Wells was going to get her into trouble one of these days.

“Oh, and Clarke,” Wells started, nudging her shoulder. She shot Bellamy an apologetic look. “I might have live texted last night to Roan, so watch out for that,” he said laughing, and Clarke groaned.

“Bye, Wells,” she snapped, grabbing Bellamy by the arm to go back toward the crates.

“What happened last night?” Bellamy asked as he picked up his crate.

“I got very, very drunk,” she explained shortly, hoping not to go into any more detail than she had to.

“That cannot be the whole story,” he teased, shooting her a smirk. She couldn’t help but smile at that.

“It’s not, but I’m not entirely sure of all the stupid things I said, so I’m not the best person to tell the story,” she explained, mentally kicking herself for last night. It was stupid, she realized. But, yesterday was a weird day. They didn’t have work, which was weird. And sure, she started her day by seeing Bellamy sneak out of Raven’s room and act super weird about it. For some reason he wanted to talk about it with Clarke, and Clarke absolutely did not want to hear any details about that night. She didn’t care why they slept together. She didn’t care how it happened. She would have been fine if she never found out about it.

Something about seeing him creep out of her room made Clarke feel physically ill, almost disgusted. It wasn’t that she had anything against Raven. Raven more than deserved to rebound after what Finn had done to her. And Clarke is happy that she’s moving on, especially because Clarke still feels incredibly guilty about her part in Raven’s misery. But, why did she have to go for Bellamy?

Clarke shook her head, trying to get her mind to think about literally anything else… which was very hard when Bellamy was literally right next to her.

“Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of drunk Clarke,” he remarked, smirking. Clarke shifted her gaze immediately, focusing entirely on the walk ahead of her. “Last time I saw her, she tried to bully me into a drinking contest and later told me that Octavia was her favorite Blake, which, you know, broke my heart,” he teased, and Clarke felt her chest tighten up. She forced herself to take a deep breath.

“I stand by that,” she joked back, still not looking back at him. Then, she heard him chuckle, which caused her to laugh.

“You sure about that?” he said, still smiling but a little more sincere, raising his eyebrows. Clarke shrugged in response, looking away from him again. They were finally approaching the truck, but Clarke stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Roan by the truck.

“Clarke!” he shouted with a massive grin on his face.

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered, and Bellamy started laughing, even though he really didn’t understand why Clarke was so irritated.

“You had a fun night,” Roan teased, as he grabbed the crate from her hands.

“Roan, stop,” she warned, and Bellamy shot them a confused look once he slid the crate onto the truck.

“What’s the worst thing you could have said last night?” Bellamy joked, walking back over to them.

“Oh, you know, just bitching about you, of course,” she said sarcastically, and Roan started cackling. Bellamy smirked at her, and she got that weird feeling in her chest again.

“Wouldn’t expect anything less from you, princess.”

“Okay, does Octavia have any more crates from the tavern?” Roan interrupted, and Bellamy shook his head. Clarke pulled out her phone to check the time. She still had a little while before she had to get back to the stage.

“Do you have to go?” Bellamy asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“No, I’ve still got a while to go before I need to be back,” she explained, suddenly realizing that she needed something to do until show time. She looked back toward the fair, trying to think of something. Maybe Octavia could use another hand in the tavern… but Clarke should try to avoid that since she was pretty sure that Lincoln was trying to spend some time with Octavia… and Clarke was really rooting for Octavia to notice and go for it.

“Good. Then, you both can come help me with the remaining crates over by the arena,” Roan said, before taking off, expecting them to follow. Bellamy shot her an exasperated look, and she started giggling, earning a glare from Roan when he snapped his head around.

 

Roan had made it sound like he had only one trip’s worth left to load onto the truck. What he really meant was he had four or five trips worth of crates that would wear all of them out.

“You need to take a break?” Bellamy asked, shooting her a concerned look. She shook her head before picking up the next crate. Bellamy let out a sigh. “Clarke, it’s okay if you’re tired,” he continued in a warning tone, but Clarke had already started walking.

“You take a break, then,” she suggested, trying her best to not look too exhausted. She could do everything that he and Roan could do, and she was going to prove it.

“Just put the damn crate down!” he yelled, startling Clarke. She turned her head around, careful not to give in and put down the crate. His brows were furrowed, and Roan was groaning at Bellamy. “Take a break,” he suggested in a much calmer tone, probably more than aware that he yelled too loudly before.

Clarke groaned as she marched back toward them, gently putting the crate down.

“Happy?” she snapped.

“I would be if you could stop being difficult for like five minutes. It’s like working with a passive aggressive toddler,” he snapped back. Roan burst out laughing, before grabbing his phone and typing quickly. Bellamy snapped his head around to face Roan, who didn’t look up from his phone. Bellamy snatched the phone out of Roan’s hands, and Roan just sat back and smirked at him.

“God, get a room you two,” Clarke joked, sitting down next to Roan.

“Can I have my phone back please?” Roan asked, in his fake polite voice. Bellamy threw it back at him and groaned. “Alright, I’m going to go check in with Wells real quick. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Roan muttered, starting to walk away. Once Bellamy wasn’t looking in his direction, Roan shot Clarke that damn grin and she wanted to punch Wells.

The two of them had been on her case for long enough about Bellamy and she was having enough of it. Yes, she was having weird feelings regarding him at the moment… but that was probably just because she was shocked by him and Raven. It wasn’t like she and Bellamy could ever work. Plus, Clarke wasn’t really sure she was ever going to work with anyone. She thought Finn was perfect, and that failed epically. She wasn’t sure she was in a place where pursuing anyone was a good idea.

Bellamy sat down next to her and they returned to that weird silence from earlier. As annoying as Roan had been, having him was a nice buffer. Clarke was feeling weird being around Bellamy and Roan’s teasing made her briefly forget about that.

“This is weird, isn’t it?” he asked, looking forward toward the fair. She could faintly hear Jasper’s performance coming to an end, followed by some laughter as it echoed through the fair.

“What do you mean?”

“We haven’t really talked since I snuck out of Raven’s room.” Clarke’s stomach dropped. She didn’t want to talk about this. Not with him. Not with anyone. She clenched her jaw, not looking at Bellamy’s face. She just focused on the red and white pattern on top of the stage’s backstage tents.

“We don’t need to talk about this,” she snapped, probably a little too aggressively.

“Raven and I are just friends,” he explained, and Clarke felt her chest tighten.

“Bellamy, stop,” she warned, taking a deep breath.

“It’s just that things have been weird between us since that happened.”

“It just shocked me. That’s all.” She started to stand up, remembering that she needed to get back to the stage. “I’ve got to get back.”

“Oh, I’ll walk with you,” Bellamy said, standing up. Fuck, Clarke thought. She wasn’t getting an exit from this conversation.

“It’s okay,” she said, already walking toward the stage. Bellamy jogged up to catch up with her.

“Which performance is on now? Please tell me it’s the kid play,” he said, smiling softly. Why did he care which performance she was doing now? He’s seen them all too many times. And why was he insisting on walking with her? She sped up her pace hoping that he would eventually take a damn hint, but he kept up with her.

“No, it’s the rip-off of Cinderella where Prince Charming falls for a poor girl,” she answered shortly, hearing a groan from Bellamy in response. She knew he hated that one. Frankly, she did too, especially considering how many romantic scenes she has with Finn.

They finally made it to the backstage tent, and Bellamy hung around awkwardly for a few minutes, before mumbling something that sounded like good luck and then left. Finn had to step out for a few minutes, so it was just Clarke and Jasper in their tent.

“You okay?” he asked, with a concerned look on his face.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she snapped, adjusting her eyeliner.

“You seem upset with Bellamy,” he observed, sitting on top of the table that she was sitting at. She looked up at him to shoot him a glare.

“We’re fine.”

“He cares about you.” Clarke threw her eyeliner pencil down, before putting her head in her hands.

“Yes, because we are friends,” she muttered into her hands.

“That’s not what I meant,” Jasper said, point blank, causing Clarke’s head to shoot up and furrow her eyebrows at him.

“Don’t,” she warned, pointing a finger at him. She already got enough of this from Roan. She didn’t need someone else reading into Bellamy’s actions.

“He likes you,” Jasper said, grabbing her hand for emphasis. She shook her head, standing up to start pacing. She had managed to keep a calm face for most of the days. She kept herself under control, and was proud of that. But, if Jasper kept going on like this, she might just explode.

“As a friend,” she reminded, a little too sternly.

“Clarke, you know better than that. You have to know that he secretly wants to be with you. Everyone knows, for fuck’s sake.”

“Then why the fuck did he sleep with her?” she snapped, almost yelling, causing Jasper to flinch. She tried to force a deep breath, but couldn’t manage.

“I don’t know but that doesn’t mean---“

“Yes, it does!” She was aggressively pacing the tent, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Clarke,” Jasper said in a pleading tone. But, Clarke couldn’t calm down.

“I deserve better than that, Jasper! I’m not going to be someone’s second choice, not again!” She could feel the tears starting to pour out of her. She leaned over a chair, trying to catch her breath, as Jasper came over to pat her on the back.

“You’re not his second choice, Clarke.”

“I’m not his choice at all. If I was, he wouldn’t do something like that.” And there it was, Clarke realized. She was completely and utterly devastated by Bellamy sleeping with Raven, despite how much she had tried to deny it.

She took some deep breaths, dabbing her eyes carefully. She had less than a minute before she and Finn needed to get on the stage. He was probably already there, she remembered, which meant everyone was waiting on her. She could do this. She could get Bellamy Blake out of her head for this little performance and deal with all of those feelings later. She could fucking do this.

 

The problem with trying to avoid thinking about Bellamy Blake is that he seemed to be everywhere… like right now, when he was sitting in the back row, apparently waiting to watch her performance. For fuck’s sake, she thought to herself, trying her best to stay in character. She delivered the few lines she had in the first scene well, she mentally applauded herself, trying to cloud her mind with anything except the fact that Bellamy was watching her. Once that scene was over, she got off the stage a little too quickly.

She wasn’t ready to admit that something had been changing between her and Bellamy. She didn’t know when it happened exactly, but all of the sudden she was having a great time on a road trip with that asshole, telling him stories about her personal life that she had never told anyone at Medici Magic. That asshole took care of her when Finn broke her heart and hasn’t stopped watching over her since.

That’s what did it, she realized. She mistook that for him liking her, when it was really just him being a decent guy. He took care of her, just like he would Octavia, and she thought it was something more. God, she was an idiot.

The next scene was longer and involved a lot of asides to the audience, which made Clarke tense. But, she thought she played it off well, especially since she avoided his eyes like her life depended on it. She focused on what she was saying, hoping it would get her back on track.

But, Bellamy was really throwing her off. She was trying to give a whole monologue about true love, but all she could think about was how stupid she had been that night, where she drunkenly teased Bellamy and he had teased her back. And then he went home with Raven. So fucking stupid.

She spent her entire performance doing this, going back and forth between ripping herself apart for being stupid and ripping herself apart for not focusing on the task at hand. Before she knew it, she was at the final scene… the one where she had to kiss Finn.

Why couldn’t this have been one of the performances where they died at the end? Why did Bellamy have to show up for one where they ended with a wedding? Her costume was a huge white dress with a giant tiara… and then Clarke realized how much she looked like a princess, which made her cheeks blush. She was amazed that Finn managed to keep his composure the whole performance, especially with how he clearly knew something was up with her, given how he checked up on her backstage.

As the wedding scene went on, Clarke’s head started racing. She hated the horrible feeling that had been aching in her chest for the past two days. It made her feel sick. She wasn’t a jealous person. And she shouldn’t care about Bellamy. He was an ass and she knew that. But, he took good care of her. He was becoming her friend. And for some reason she started to feel something that wasn’t horrible when she was around him. Now, all she feels is horrible and she just wants to feel something else for even just a moment.

Then, Jasper said, “You may now kiss the bride.” Finn leaned in to kiss her, and Clarke pulled him in farther by his collar, which absolutely was not their blocking. She didn’t really care, as she didn’t back off from the kiss, earning a few ooohs from the audience. She just needed to get Bellamy out of her brain for a seconds, otherwise she was going to lose her damn mind.

When she finally pulled away from the kiss, she was painfully aware of two things: first, the look on Finn’s face after the kiss told Clarke that she had made a huge mistake, and second, she felt absolutely nothing. They quickly went through their bows, and Clarke purposefully avoided looking at Bellamy. Then, she practically ran off the stage to get out of her ridiculous costume. She couldn’t breathe in it and everything just seemed to be too close to her. She was getting so claustrophobic.

“Let me help you,” Maya offered, running over to untie the back of Clarke’s dress. Luckily, Maya didn’t say anything else to Clarke, which Clarke was the most grateful for. She quickly changed into her normal dress, before sprinting out of the tent before Finn could come talk to her. She needed to go somewhere, but she wasn’t sure where. She couldn’t go anywhere that required her to walk in front of the stage. She was definitely not taking the back entrance to the arena, where she would have to see Bellamy. Then, her guardian angel came in for the rescue.

“Clarke, I need your help with something,” Lincoln said, out of breath from running over to her. She nodded, unable to really say anything, and then followed him. He took her behind the stage to the back entrance of the face painting tent, which required her to literally see no one else. When she got there, there was no one in there.

“You didn’t actually need help, did you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at Lincoln, who just shrugged.

“No, but you looked like you did. You can hide over here with me for a bit, if you want,” he offered, gesturing for her to sit next to him. He slid some paper and pencils over to her seat, before picking up his own and doodling.

“You are a fucking saint,” she whispered, picking up the pencil, thankful that someone knew exactly how to save her from her own brain.


	15. To Dying Alone

Lincoln really didn’t know what to expect when he applied for this job. He thought it would be kind of fun to travel and maybe he could make some friends along the way. But, absolutely nothing could have prepared him for the sheer amount drama he had witnessed since he started.

“It was sloppy, and you know it!” Bellamy yelled, aggressively throwing a wet washcloth onto his forehead.

“I did it just like I’ve done every other day this summer!” Murphy yelled back, before storming out of the tent. Bellamy huffed, before throwing the washcloth onto the ground and following him. Lincoln let out a sigh, missing the days when he just did some face painting and artwork. Fuck that Atom guy for disappearing and forcing him to take his job in the arena. It really hadn’t been that bad, aside from how damn hot it was and how long their days were. Well, it wasn’t bad until Bellamy suddenly started acting like a damn drill sergeant.

Miller groaned, before begrudgingly following Bellamy out of the tent. Lincoln followed suit, reminding himself not to get himself in the middle of this particular fight. Murphy had knocked Bellamy off his horse, which was a major party foul in Medici Magic’s arena. Luckily, Bellamy didn’t seem to be hurt… but he was pissed.

“Who were you fucking showing off for?” Bellamy snapped, pushing Murphy back. Murphy swallowed, narrowing his eyes at Bellamy.

“No one. Not my fault you’ve been too distracted to do your job,” he spat, causing Bellamy to lurch forward. Miller grabbed Bellamy by the arm, yanking him back away from Murphy… who didn’t seem to be taking the hint because he was not backing off.

“Walk it off,” Miller growled at Bellamy, who had a murderous look on his face. Lincoln stepped in front of Bellamy and faced Murphy.

“Take a walk,” Lincoln warned, which Murphy scoffed at.

“Get out of my way, newbie,” he snapped, and Lincoln could hear Bellamy and Miller arguing about something behind him. Murphy tried to go around Lincoln, but he kept blocking him.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Lincoln warned again, getting really damn sick of the drama that went down here. He’d had enough drama back in school when he would get into fights like this all the time. He was past this point in his life, and, in the end, he realized it was all pointless. Sure, people got angry. But, anger passes and punching someone doesn’t help anyone.

Of course, the idiot in front of him had not come around to his way of thinking, as he swung his right fist toward Lincoln. Lincoln caught the fist in his hand, before twisting his arm forcefully, until Murphy yelped in pain. Lincoln then shoved him to the ground and walked away, making sure to shoot Bellamy a warning look as he walked past him. Miller smirked in approval, but Bellamy’s jaw was dropped.

Children, Lincoln thought to himself.

 

He wasn’t sure when it started, but it had become a normal occurrence for him to stop by the tavern once a day to talk to Octavia. He never intended to mean anything by it. He just liked talking to her.

At first, she would tell him all the gossip, as she caught him up on everything he had missed during the summer. Then, after Atom took off, he kept inventing fake problems for her to help him solve, since she really seemed to enjoy helping people. He would say he was having a hard time getting to know his coworkers, or that he didn’t know how to stabilize the tents when they fell down during rainstorms. She had all the opinions and advice that he could possibly want, and more.

Now, he didn’t really have to have excuses to come see her. They were friends and she had gotten to the point where she just expected him to show up.

“Where the fuck have you been?” she snapped, as he strolled in. Normally, he stopped by before the lunch crowd came in. This was the latest he had ever come in.

“Breaking up a fight between your brother and Murphy,” he muttered, sliding under the bar. Octavia’s eyes widened.

“Again?” Lincoln nodded. “For fuck’s sake,” Octavia muttered under her breath, shooting Lincoln an exasperated glance. Lincoln took the glass out of her hand and nudged her over to the side, so he could wash some of the glasses. She sat herself up on the counter, looking at him. This had become their little ritual that may have started by Octavia saying that if he was going to be hanging around all the time, he might as well be useful.

“To be fair, Murphy knocked him off a horse.”

“He does that like once a week, though.” Octavia was shaking her head.

“Well, then what do you think it is?” he asked, already having a pretty good idea. He knew that Bellamy had something going on with Clarke. And both of them were not acting like themselves… so he knows what Bellamy’s issue is probably about.

“He’s clearly pissed about something,” she muttered, throwing her head back to look up at the ceiling. “Last time he got this way was because I started dating Atom. But, I’m not doing anything to activate his weird possessive overprotective nonsense right now.”

Lincoln nodded in agreement, not wanting to overstep by suggesting it had something to do with Clarke. He wasn’t sure what all Octavia knew or thought about that whole situation and didn’t want to say the wrong thing to alienate her.

“Speak of the devil,” he heard Octavia say excitedly, before he lifted up his head to see Bellamy storm into the tavern. Bellamy shot him a stern look, narrowing his eyes as if to ask why he was in there. But, Lincoln stood up straight to look right back at him, not breaking eye contact. Eventually, Bellamy directed his attention to Octavia.

“I heard you were looking for me earlier,” Bellamy said coolly to Octavia, and she lifted her legs to spin around on the counter and face him.

“I was because I heard you’ve been acting like a dick,” she said bluntly, and Bellamy immediately glared at Lincoln. “Don’t. He wasn’t the first person to tell me. Everyone has told me you’ve been a dick for the past three days. What gives?” Lincoln let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He was grateful that Octavia stood up for him that aggressively, not that he needed her to. It was still nice, though.

“He knocked me off a fucking horse,” he snapped.

“Nope. That was just today. Try again,” she said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry that I’m getting mad about people not taking their jobs seriously, O.”

“Bullshit. Is there a girl involved?”

“Of course not,” he snapped, before turning around to leave. Octavia jumped off the counter to run over to him and pull his arm. “Stop,” he warned.

“Raven or Clarke?” she asked nicely, looking up at him. Lincoln could not understand their relationship for the life of him. He knew that they loved each other, but he had also witnessed how intensely they fought. It was a lot to take in, and he really couldn’t compare that to anything he’s ever had in his life.

“Raven and I agreed that night was a mistake,” he explained, throwing his head back slightly to look up at the ceiling.

“So, Clarke?” Lincoln asked, jumping into this conversation. Bellamy shot him a warning glare as Octavia’s eyes grew wider and she slapped his arm.

“What happened? You have to tell me everything!”

“Nothing happened or will ever happen. Clarke is just my friend,” he said a little too quickly, starting to move toward the exit. Then, he frantically turned back around to head toward the bar. Lincoln tilted his head in confusion, and Octavia looked just as thrown. Then, Clarke walked in. Oh, Lincoln realized. Bellamy must have seen her coming.

“Oh hey, Clarke,” Bellamy said a little too casually, and Lincoln glanced at Octavia who was shooting him a knowing look.

“Hi,” she awkwardly said to Bellamy before turning to Octavia. “You mind if I hide out in here for a bit?” she asked, looking exhausted. Octavia gestured for her to take a seat, and Clarke plopped down right across from where Lincoln was working on the dishes.

“What happened?” Lincoln asked, curious as to why Clarke would choose this place of all places to hang out.

“Finn,” was all she muttered before putting her head down on the countertop.

Octavia moved over toward them immediately, and Bellamy seemed to be listening while trying to seem uninterested. “What’s going on with Finn?” she snapped, glaring at the back of Clarke’s head.

“Nothing,” Clarke muttered into the counter, and Octavia looked up at Lincoln. How the fuck did she know that he knew something? This girl was something else.

“I wouldn’t say it was nothing,” he said to Clarke, and Octavia’s eyes widened. Oh God, he realized. Clarke hadn’t told Octavia.

“Lincoln,” Octavia started, now gripping his shoulder to make him look at her. Clarke groaned, not bothering to interrupt their conversation.

“Clarke kind of had too intense of a stage kiss with Finn and now he’s back to being obsessed with her,” he explained, and Clarke’s head shot up with a strange expression. “What?” he asked, confused as to why this was a secret in the first place. There were witnesses to this incident. She talked to him about it all the damn time, and they just met. He figured this wasn’t really a secret.

“What the fuck?” Octavia yelled, slapping Clarke on the back.

“If you’re just going to judge me, I’m leaving,” she groaned, getting up to leave. Lincoln glanced over at Bellamy, who had been a bit too quiet. He was paying very close attention to the conversation between the girls, Lincoln noticed. He no longer had a scowl painted on his face, but still looked confused.

“If you get back with him, so help me God, Clarke,” Octavia started, following Clarke.

“I’m not. Fuck, Octavia. I’m not stupid!” she shouted before storming out of the tavern. Lincoln looked over at Bellamy, who was letting out a deep sigh, looking almost relieved.

Oh. _Oh,_ he realized. That was what was wrong with him. He was jealous.

 

“So, when are you going to make a move on Octavia?” Clarke asked bluntly, swirling her drink around with a straw. Lincoln nearly spit out his drink.

“She and I are friends,” he started, knowing full well that Clarke wasn’t going to buy that for a second.

“You haven’t already planned your wedding, then?” she said smugly, waiving the bartender to get them another round of drinks.

“She just broke up with Atom,” he explained, grasping at straws to find his next excuse. “Besides, she doesn’t think of me that way.” Clarke shot him an intense glare.

“She does,” Clarke replied, putting her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. Lincoln finished off his drink before slamming it down on the counter.

“Slight change of subject. What are you going to do about Bellamy?” he asked smugly. Clarke shot him a shocked look, before she started blushing.

“There’s nothing to do about Bellamy,” she said coolly, diverting her eyes away.

“Whatever you say,” he said with a smirk. Clarke shot him a glare, before downing the rest of her drink.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, she blurted out, “He slept with Raven. There’s nothing for me to do now.”

Lincoln pondered that for a moment before nodding in agreement. He could see how this would be an issue for Clarke. As far as she knows, Bellamy doesn’t think about her like that. Him sleeping with Raven is proof of that, to her. Because, if Bellamy were smart, which Lincoln isn’t convinced he is, he would know that Clarke would not be okay with sharing yet another man with Raven.

When the bartender came with their next two drinks, they had been sitting there for a few minutes without talking. He raised his glass and gestured to Clarke. “To dying alone,” he joked, and Clarke joined in with a jokingly annoyed expression.


	16. The Most Beautiful Mess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you guys liked Lincoln's chapter! Ugh, I miss him so much. He's my precious baby angel.
> 
> Anyway, expect another update by the end of the weekend. It'll be Clarke's POV probably. 
> 
> Hope you guys like this chapter! I got a little emotional writing it. Let me know what you guys think!

Bellamy hadn’t seen Clarke all day, which was weird. It wasn’t like they were spending a lot of time together lately, but he always saw her a few times throughout the day. He would see her talking with Lincoln, or doing stage maintenance, or taking photos with guests. But, he knows for a fact that he did not see her once today.

So, he headed toward the stage to see if she was hiding out backstage. When he got there, he saw Bree wearing one of Clarke’s regular costumes, and he could feel his stomach drop. Something was wrong.

That must have been clear by his facial expression, because Finn came up to talk to him. “You okay?” he asked, looking genuinely concerned. Bellamy had to swallow before answering so that he didn’t verbally attack this boy. Finn didn’t deserve it at the moment, and Clarke would bitch Bellamy out if he was rude to Finn completely unprovoked.

“Yeah,” he replied, glancing around the tent. It was a disaster, as if they had just thrown the props around and left costumes off their hangers. Clarke would never let this tent get so disorganized. “Just looking for Clarke.”

“She took today off,” Bree said from across the tent, adjusting her headpiece. Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows at that.

“Clarke doesn’t take days off,” he said slowly, trying to piece together what could make her take a day off work. She always came to work, regardless of if she was sick. Finn just shrugged in response, and Bellamy left the tent.

She was probably fine, he justified. Normal people take days off work all the time. Maybe Clarke was becoming more normal.

 

When Octavia didn’t answer his texts, Bellamy decided to head over to her apartment. He wanted to know why Clarke was gone today but figured he would see her if he stopped by their apartment. What he didn’t account for was Octavia not being there, leaving Raven to answer the door.

They stood their awkwardly for a few seconds, both realizing this was the first time they had been alone together since they slept together.

“Uh, is Octavia here?” he asked, and Raven shook her head.

“Need me to leave her a message?” she asked, very business-like. He realized then that Raven probably also had to face repercussions to them sleeping together, which would explain how unfamiliarly she was treating him now.

“No, I was actually just wanting to check in and see if she had heard from Clarke today,” he explained, hoping he didn’t sound too clingy. He was just genuinely worried about her but was too scared to actually text Clarke at the moment.

“She’s not here. I wish I could tell you more but she and I aren’t really that close at the moment,” Raven said kind of sadly, and Bellamy felt a pang in his stomach. He didn’t know what was going on between Raven and Clarke, but he had a few suspicions. They seemed to hit it off after all of the Finn drama, but he hadn’t seen them together in a while. Judging by the way Raven looked guiltily at Bellamy, he had a horrible feeling that he had something to do with why they weren’t close anymore.

“Ah, well if you do hear from her, can you just let me know how she’s doing?” he asked, and she nodded, before shutting the door. Bellamy let out a breath, leaning against the wall. He looked out into the parking lot, looking for Clarke’s car, but it wasn’t there. Maybe something happened with her family. Or maybe she just needed to get out of there for a while.

He lightly banged the back of his head into the wall, trying to think. Maybe Wells knew where she was. He was the most likely to know, considering how long he’s known Clarke. Bellamy started walking down to his apartment, and Monty answered the door.

Harper and Monty were cuddled up on the couch, watching cartoons. Bellamy smiled at them, kind of grateful that at least someone in this damn place has found a successful relationship. He walked down the hall to knock on Wells’ door.

“Just a second,” Wells yelled through the door. Bellamy then heard him mutter something, but couldn’t make sense of it.

“Are you naked or something?” he asked jokingly.

“No, I have clothes on,” he replied, sounding frantic. What on earth could Wells be hiding? That kid was practically a saint, with absolutely nothing to hide.

“Good, then I’m coming in,” Bellamy smirked, opening the door to a very flustered Wells, who was currently trying to push Roan into his closet to hide him. “Hi, Roan,” Bellamy smirked, noticing that Roan definitely did not have a shirt on.

“Long time no see, roomie,” he said awkwardly, shooting a wide-eyed look at Wells, whose face was flushed.

“We were just---“ Wells started before Roan interrupted.

“Wells here was just trying to push me back into the closet,” he joked awkwardly, with a shy smile.

“It’s not that I---“ Wells started again.

“I’m happy for you guys,” Bellamy interrupted, smiling at the both of them. “So, how long?” He raised an eyebrow, which was mainly directed at Roan who should not have been able to keep this a secret considering that they lived together.

“A few weeks,” Roan explained, and Wells nodded in agreement. “We would have told you, but we aren’t really telling people yet.”

“Yeah, only Clarke knows. And that’s just because she’s really good at figuring that kind of stuff out,” Wells added.

“Speaking of Clarke, where was she today?” Bellamy asked, hoping to sound as casual as possible. He had enough of Wells and Roan giving him a hard time about Clarke. Yes, he was starting to have feelings for her that weren’t strictly platonic. But, after the past few weeks, he can’t let himself believe that she could ever feel the same way. He saw the way she kissed Finn. It made him feel sick to his stomach, wondering how she felt about it, if she missed him, and if he was the kind of guy someone as wonderful as Clarke Griffin would fall for.

“Worried about your friend?” Roan asked with a smirk, before Wells smacked him on the back of the head.

“It’s the 22nd,” Wells said very seriously, and Bellamy started digging through his brain trying to understand how that answers his question. He knew the date. How was this supposed to be helpful?

Roan stopped smirking and started nodding in a somber manner.

“Elaborate please,” Bellamy said, frustrated that they were being as cryptic as possible.

“It’s been a year since her dad died,” Wells said, looking at the ground. Oh, Bellamy realized. Suddenly, the whole day made sense. His chest started to ache, as he remembered what it felt like when his mother died. Clarke had to be a disaster, he thought worriedly.

“Where is she now?” he asked, moving toward the door instinctively. Roan and Wells shared a glance, and Bellamy rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what they were thinking.

“Not sure. Try an art museum. It’s where she goes when she’s upset,” Wells suggested, shrugging his shoulders. Bellamy turned to leave, ignoring the whispering that was going on between the two of them. He knew what this looked like, but didn’t have the energy to correct them. He was worried about his friend. That was all this was.

 

It took him going to three different art museums before he found her. He did try calling her, but she didn’t answer. Now, he understood why. She was sitting on a bench across from an abstract painting on the wall, not moving. There was no one else around and it was completely silent. She had her elbows on her knees, head in her hands, staring at a painting that was completely red. She didn’t notice him right away, which led Bellamy to believe that she had been there for a while.

“Clarke,” he said quietly, immediately alerting her to his presence. She made eye contact with him, and Bellamy felt himself so overwhelmed just by how exhausted she looked. She didn’t look like she had been crying, but still managed to look like she hadn’t slept in years.

“What are you doing here?” Bellamy went to sit next to her on the bench, glancing up at the painting that she had been staring at. It was hundreds of different shades of red, scattered across the canvas in aggressive looking strokes. He really wished he knew more about art. He didn’t have a clue what this was supposed to be about.

“Checking on you. Is that so hard to believe?” he asked with a playful smirk, hoping to make her smile a bit. She didn’t and instead kept her eyes fixed on the painting.

“Yes,” she said abruptly, and Bellamy felt his chest tighten.

“Should I ask you if you are okay or would you rather I not?”

“I’d rather you not.” Bellamy nodded in understanding, remembering what it was like to be in Clarke’s shoes.

They sat there for a few minutes in silence, and Bellamy tried to focus on the painting. How was Clarke so focused on this canvas? Sure, it looked cool as hell, but there was only so much to look at. He didn’t know how long Clarke had been sitting here, but he knew that she had definitely sat here long enough to see the painting and move on. He stole a glance at her, but she didn’t notice. He redirected his attention to the painting, trying to see what she sees and coming up short.

“I don’t know anything about art,” he admitted, earning a snort from Clarke. He then burst out laughing, as she covered up her mouth looking embarrassed, despite laughing too. Once he calmed down a bit, he added, “I meant that I don’t understand this painting.”

“I didn’t either,” she said quietly, the hint of a smile fading from her face as she looked back at it.

“Didn’t?”

“I used to live in Polis when I was little,” she explained. “My dad took me here a lot. He knew I wanted to be an artist. My mom didn’t really approve and still doesn’t… but my dad wanted me to experience all kinds of art. This was his favorite painting.”

Bellamy stopped looking at the painting, turning his head to focus on what Clarke was saying. Her eyes were still fixed on the painting, using her hands while talking.

“I would always get frustrated when I looked at it. I didn’t get it at all.” She furrowed her eyebrows in frustration. “Granted, I was like seven at the time. But, it looked like someone just really liked the color red and covered a massive canvas with it.”

Bellamy started chuckling, imagining a seven-year-old Clarke being super critical of a painting. He could imagine that she would be just as difficult and stubborn as she is now, just much shorter.

“I would always yell at my dad about it on the ride home, trying to understand why out of all the paintings in the world, this one was his favorite.” Clarke was chuckling now, which made Bellamy smile a bit. Her eyes still looked sad, but the rest of her face seemed to be less tense.

“He would say that one day it would make sense to me. That it was a painting about a particular feeling.”

“So, when did it start making sense to you?” he asked.

“Today,” she said abruptly, narrowing her eyes a bit. Bellamy took a quick glance at the painting, then back at her. He swallowed, taking in the sheer amount of pain that was dancing across her face. Her entire body was tense as her jaw clenched.

He watched her for a few minutes, waiting for her to continue talking. She didn’t cry, which surprised him. He was used to Octavia, who cried all the time. She cried from sadness, from happiness, from frustration… you name it. But Clarke… it took a lot to break her.

“What does it mean?” he finally asked, not being able to take the silence any longer.

“I don’t know if I can explain it,” she whispered, finally glancing at Bellamy. He could see her struggle to keep the tears from falling. She looked down at her hands as she continued, “It just reminds me of everything I felt after he died. How angry I’ve been. How much of a disaster I’ve been.” She turned her head back to the painting.

“You’re not a disaster,” he tried to reassure. He was failing at this, he realized. He should have brought Octavia or Wells or Roan. Or literally anyone else. Anyone would be better at figuring out how to reassure Clarke. She was a mystery to him… and as much as he enjoyed trying to figure her out, he knew that she needed someone who truly knew her right at this moment.

“Well, I feel like it,” she muttered.

“Clarke,” he started, not really sure what he was going to say. She turned her head back to look at him, tears starting to flow. She buried her face into his chest, and he sat there frozen for a moment. Clarke had never been this physically close to him, he realized. He put one arm around her back and rested his head on top of hers. He started stroking her hair instinctively, before he realized what he was doing and started questioning if that was weird. She didn’t jump when he did it, so maybe it was okay. Right, this was something that friends did and she probably didn’t suspect that anything was up, he reassured himself.

He probably should have been saying something. Maybe about how everything was okay or how strong she was or how her dad was probably watching over her. But, he didn’t because he was incredibly distracted. She was breathing heavily as she sobbed into his shirt, and he was too busy trying to get her to stop to think straight. He needed her to stop crying but couldn’t figure out how to make it stop. God, he realized. Someone else should really be doing this. He started rubbing her back, hoping that it would be comforting. But he didn’t have a damn clue what he was doing.

When her breathing started to slow down, Bellamy could feel his brain start to return. The first thing he was struck by was how good her hair smelled. It had to be her shampoo or something, he thought, wondering when he started enjoying the smell of flowers so much. He had never been this close to Clarke… let alone held her. He was also amazed by how soft her hair actually was, as he ran his hands through it.

“You’re okay,” he whispered into her ear, before resting his head on top of her head again. She breathed in a couple of deep breaths, before finally pulling away. Her entire face was red, especially around her eyes. Her hair was now a mess, and her eyeliner was incredibly smeared.

“Sorry,” she murmured, gesturing to the wet spot on his t-shirt where she had been crying.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, tucking her hair behind her ear. She smiled softly, looking down at her hands. God, even like this, she was still stunning. She might be a mess, but she was the most beautiful mess he had ever seen. “Let’s get you home.”

 

He checked on her again a few hours later. He wanted to give her some time alone with Octavia, who he was sure was probing her with questions about where she had been all day. When he stopped by her apartment, Octavia dragged him into her room to interrogate him about Clarke. She wanted to know how he found her, what they talked about, etc. He answered her honestly, and she kept sending him very pointed glares.

“Are you going to keep pretending that you’re not hopelessly in love with her?” she snapped in a whisper. Bellamy groaned.

“O, stop.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“What did you expect me to say? That I can’t stop thinking about her?” he snapped, a little too loudly. Octavia smacked him on the arm, eyes widening. “She’s driving me insane,” he whispered, looking past Octavia toward the door. “I can’t get her out of my head.”

“Fucking finally,” she muttered, throwing herself down onto her bed and groaning. Bellamy left her room to go check on Clarke, who was now asleep on the couch. He let out a sigh, having flashbacks to all the times she fell asleep on his couch before he took her to bed.

“Why can’t you ever just fall asleep in a bed like a normal person?” he muttered, as he picked her up from the couch. He headed over to Clarke’s bedroom, which he had never been in. It was pretty boring, especially considering how intense of a person Clarke was. He had expected her to have sketches all over the walls or posters of her favorite paintings. But, her walls were bare except for a calendar on the wall. He set her down on top of her bed and pulled her shoes off.

“Bell,” she whispered, causing Bellamy to freeze.

“Yes, Clarke?” He pulled down her sheets, trying to help her under the covers. She sleepily started pulling up the blanket, and rolled onto her side.

“Thank you,” was all she said, eyes still closed.

He stood there for a few minutes, staring at her. She was fast asleep now, looking so peaceful. He loved seeing her like this. His chest started to ache as he tried to remember a time she looked this happy while awake. Maybe when she was laughing. He made a mental note to try and make her laugh more.


	17. Such a Cynical Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. I may not be updating as frequently. I'm leaving on a trip next week and have so much work to get done before then. The next chapter is going to be more on the dramatic side, which usually means that it will take me longer to get up anyway. Expect maybe one or two updates this week. I may crank another one out tonight, since I am clearly procrastinating. Also, I may not have wifi while on my trip. So that might mean I'll be writing a whole lot but not getting to upload as frequently. So ya'll may go a week without an update, only to have like five updates all at once. 
> 
> Oh, and I hope my readers from Matched enjoyed my Ice Jaha moment. I'm still excited to be the sole contributor of the Ice Jaha fandom :) After they were matched, I joked that I would put them together whenever I wrote a fic that they both were in. I have zero regrets. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think about this chapter... I know it's kind of a short one. The next chapter will probably be Bellamy's POV and will be a long one.

“Okay, I think I fixed it,” Raven explained, pinning the microphone to Clarke’s top. The mics went out during their last performance, which was a huge inconvenience, especially for Finn. Clarke managed to project correctly, and Jasper did alright. But Finn… well, it was clear that he wasn’t used to performing without a mic.

“Testing. Testing,” Clarke said directly into the mic, looking over at Monty who was sitting in the back row shooting her a thumbs up. “Oh, thank God.”

“Oh, you can just call me Raven,” she joked, which caught Clarke off guard and she started cackling.

“Have you fixed Finn’s mic yet?” Clarke asked, gesturing his head toward Finn who was pacing in the aisles. Raven shook her head and shot Clarke a look.

“Get over here, Finn,” she snapped, and Clarke ducked out of the way. She was on decent terms with both of them… but that didn’t mean she wanted to be near them when they interacted. She started untangling herself from the mic as she walked over to Monty.

“How does she even do that?” he asked, shaking his head at the two of them. Clarke looked back, noticing how tense Finn looked as he watched Raven adjust his mic. Her jaw was clenched and wasn’t talking to him. She had at least talked to Clarke a little bit while fiddling with her mic.

“Well, she did already punch him. Maybe she’s replaying that moment over and over,” she joked, earning a small chuckle from Monty.

“Is that what you do to get through the scenes you have together?”

“Sometimes,” she said with a smile, sitting down next to him. “Only on days where he pisses me off.”

“Oh, so every day.” Clarke nodded.

“Testing, testing,” she heard Finn say through the speakers, and Monty threw up another thumbs up.

“So, who all is riding with you for the Fourth of July?” Monty asked. The entire staff was going to Roan’s family’s beach house for the Fourth. They only had two more days of the fair before packing up to move on. Roan had convinced Wallace to let everyone take an extra day off so that they could celebrate the Fourth in style before making the long trip to Tondc.

“I have no idea. I have three more seats in my car, four if people want to get cozy.”

“Yeah, there’s no more room in the Blake truck. Could Harper and I ride with you?”

“Oh, hell yeah. Is Jasper coming, too?”

“He’s driving with Maya. I would have ridden with them, but he kind of wants that alone time with her so he can get up the courage to ask her out.” Clarke started chuckling and shaking her head. That poor boy has had a crush on her for weeks and still hasn’t figured out that she likes him back.

“Okay, well I’ll ask around to see who wants to come with. Maybe Luna,” she said before getting up to walk backstage, trying to avoid Finn who was walking toward her.

“Hey, Clarke!” she heard Raven yell. Clarke turned around, stopping dead in her tracks. “Can you come here for a sec?”

Clarke brushed right past Finn toward Raven, shooting her a confused look. “You need something?” Raven looked over her shoulder toward where Finn was walking away.

“Just buying you some time so that Finn leaves you alone,” she said in a whisper, and Clarke let out a sigh of relief. She looked over her shoulder to see him sulking as he moved toward the backstage tents.

“Thank you.”

“Figured I owed you one.”

“Hey, do you want to ride with me for the Fourth? Right now, all I’ve got are Monty and Harper in my car.” Clarke figured this was the least she could do, knowing that Raven wasn’t exactly doing great at making friends so far. She guessed that was mainly due to the fact most people seemed intimidated by Raven, herself included. The girl was smart as hell and has proven that she is tough enough to take someone down.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” she replied, sounding genuinely excited.

“Hey, could you ask Luna if she is riding with someone? I don’t really know her that well.” Raven nodded, and Clarke let out a breath. She had been awkward around Raven lately, which would have been understandable if it was all about Finn. But, it wasn’t and both girls knew it.

 

“Easy, princess,” Bellamy warned when Clarke almost let the tent collapse on top of him. They were breaking down the tents now that everything else was packed up and on the trucks.

“Sorry.”

“Knew I should’ve asked Roan to help me,” he muttered, collapsing one of the legs. Clarke rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I’ve been really helpful!” Clarke snapped, collapsing the last leg.

“The scratch mark on my arm from the tent you collapsed incorrectly begs to differ,” he smirked at her.

“Well, then let me go get Roan,” Clarke said, turning around to go get him, before Bellamy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. For the past week or so, Bellamy had begun touching her more, she noticed. Sometimes it was just a tap on the shoulder, or him grabbing her arm gently to guide her. Very rarely was it something like a hug. But, it was all so strange to her. Not unwelcome… she definitely enjoyed it. But, they were in uncharted territory. She didn’t know if he was just being more affectionate because they were friends or because he witnessed her little breakdown at the art museum. And she didn’t know how to respond. Were they still doing that thing where they pretended that they hated each other? Or, did this mean they had moved past that?

“Please, don’t. I can’t listen to him talk about Wells anymore,” he begged with a small smile. Clarke rolled her eyes again, before picking up the bag for him to put the tent in.

“See? It’s not always fun being the one who knows these secrets.” Bellamy had been so mad at Clarke when he found out that she knew about Roan and Wells. But, he was slowly starting to realize that there were cons to being one of the few people who knew about a relationship. The biggest one being that you were the only one either of them could talk to about it.

“Can’t they just tell everyone already? Then, they can go bore the other happy couples and I won’t have to hear the same damn stories over and over,” he muttered, struggling to get the top of the tent to squeeze into the bag.

“You’re only dealing with Roan. What about me? They are both my best friends.”

“Yeah, but girls like hearing about that kind of crap,” he groaned. Clarke shot him a glare and he put his hands up defensively.

“Not me. It’s exhausting, especially after spending all day listening to Jasper pine over Maya,” she snapped, closing up the bag, taking it over to the truck. She could keep going, listing how painful it was to listen to Octavia talk about Atom while everything was falling apart with Finn. Not to mention that at the moment Clarke was also Lincoln’s only sounding board when it came to Octavia. This summer had been exhausting when it came to her friends falling in love.

“Such a cynical princess,” he teased, and Clarke playfully rolled her eyes at him.

“You’re not much better.”

“But, people expect that from me,” he replied, leaning against a tree. Clarke continued to work on the next tent, a little bit irritated that he was just watching now.

“That’s because you’re a grumpy old man.”

“Don’t make me blush,” he teased, finally walking back over to hold up the rest of the tent while Clarke collapsed the leg.

“You’re the worst,” she muttered, shaking her head at him. He turned his head to smirk at her, and Clarke felt her entire chest tighten. Did he not know what that did to her? The more he teased her, the more flustered she got. He would always shoot her these intense looks that could make Clarke forget what she was doing or what she was going to say next. Right now was one of those moments, where Clarke could not collapse the leg for the life of her… most likely due to the fact there was a Bellamy smirking at her with such affection in his eyes, which was very new to Clarke. Moments like this made her forget how much he pissed her off on a regular basis or all the terrible things he had said to her or done… including the Raven incident. Right, she remembered. She needed to keep reminding herself that he slept with Raven. He wouldn’t have done that if he had feelings for Clarke. She needed to remember that so that she didn’t start falling for him. She wasn’t going to let herself get hurt like she did with Finn ever again.

Bellamy moved toward Clarke told hold the leg in place, probably noticing that she couldn’t seem to collapse it by herself. She forced herself to take a deep breath, not looking up to meet his eyes. She could do this, she kept telling herself. All she needed to do was focus.

“Doing okay, princess?” he asked and she could hear him smirking. Ugh, she was so fucked.

 

What amazed Clarke was how completely oblivious Octavia was. Lincoln stopped by their apartment all the time, pretending to be there to see Clarke. She gave him a hard time over this all the time, but he still persisted. Octavia didn’t seem to notice. Just like she didn’t think anything by him stopping by the tavern every day. She was an idiot.

Octavia offered to let Lincoln ride with her and Bellamy, which Clarke knew was a terrible idea. Bellamy wasn’t stupid. He knew that Lincoln was interested in his little sister. In fact, everyone knew. It probably wasn’t a great idea to have the two of them trapped in the truck for two hours both ways.

“He can’t be that bad,” Lincoln muttered, after Clarke warned him about Bellamy’s overprotective nature.

“He and Atom got into actual fights,” she warned.

“Yeah, but Octavia was dating Atom. She and I are not dating,” he pointed out as if that would actually make a difference.

“You think that distinction will stop his overprotective big brother mode? For fuck’s sake, he threatened Finn and pinned him up against a wall just for trying to talk to me,” she said frantically, talking a little too much with her hands.

“Yeah, but he did that because he likes you,” Lincoln blurted out, and Clarke could feel her chest start to tighten again.

“Yeah, he was being protective over his friend. Think about how much worse it is when it’s for his only family,” she recovered quickly. Lincoln shot her a glare.

“Nice save. But, he wasn’t being protective over you. He was jealous,” he snapped, resting his head on the table.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she dismissed, trying to figure out how to get back to talking about Octavia.

“Yeah, I do. He’s admitted it to me, you dumb dumb.”

Clarke sat there in stunned silence for a few moments, processing what she just heard. If Bellamy had feelings for her, everything that had happened that summer would make a lot more sense. It would explain how he took care of her after the Finn drama, or how he comforted her at the art museum. It would explain why he stopped being a dick to her and started being more affectionate toward her.

But, it didn’t explain why he slept with Raven.

“Sure,” was all she muttered, blowing off Lincoln’s claims. Maybe Bellamy did have some feelings for Clarke. Maybe he was as confused about them as she was. Clarke put her head on the table, closing her eyes. Nothing was making sense anymore.

She was tired of thinking about Bellamy all the time, looking for him as she walked through the fair. She couldn’t deny how strange she felt whenever he looked at her for too long. She felt like she would melt when he would shoot her one of those intense glances or soft smirks. But, then she started wondering if he had ever looked at Raven that way and snapped herself out of it.


	18. Drunk People Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got this up sooner than expected. It's only around 3k, since I decided to keep most of the drama in the next chapter, which is Clarke's POV and is gonna start about fifteen minutes before where this chapter ends (if that makes sense)
> 
> Anyway, get ready for some jealous Bellamy along with some overprotective Bellamy and slightly possessive Bellamy. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think. Your comments have been giving me so much inspiration to keep going, so thank you all. You're wonderful and lovely. Love ya'll.

“Miller, tell me all about your boyfriend,” Octavia started, trying to turn around in her seat. Bellamy let out a sigh, shaking his head at his sister. She couldn’t stay out of anyone’s business.

“Uh, his name is Jackson,” Miller said after a bit of hesitation, shooting Bellamy a look through the rearview mirror. He rolled his eyes.

“And?” Octavia prodded.

“We’ve been dating for a year,” Miller added, sounding like he was done talking about it. Bellamy chuckled a bit, knowing all too well that even Octavia couldn’t get any more information out of him. Miller was a very private person.

“Oh, come on. There’s got to be more than that!” she shouted, practically jumping up and down on her seat.

“O, chill out,” Bellamy warned, keeping his eyes on the road.

“I’m sorry I just want to get to know Miller better! At least he has an interesting love life to prod about,” she muttered, earning a loud chuckle from Lincoln. Bellamy groaned, not liking the two of them being on the same side. He could tell that Lincoln was interested in Octavia, which rubbed Bellamy the wrong way.

“She has a point,” Miller added.

“Shut the fuck up, Miller,” Bellamy snapped, turning on his blinker to get into the left lane.

“You don’t want me to interrogate Miller. So, let’s interrogate you instead. What’s going on with Clarke?” Octavia teased, and Bellamy could see Lincoln and Miller lean forward out of the corner of his eye.

“O, stop.”

“Literally everyone in this car knows about you and Clarke,” Lincoln pointed out.

“We are not talking about me and Clarke,” he muttered, shaking his head. He picked the wrong people to ride with him.

“You know, Raven is riding with Clarke today,” Octavia pointed out. “Bet they have a lot to talk about.” Bellamy groaned. He didn’t know that Raven was riding with Clarke… he didn’t even know they were even that close right now. He also didn’t like the idea of them getting close. He wasn’t sure what all Raven would say about their hookup or if Clarke even cared. He was pretty certain Clarke was upset about it based on how cold she was to him afterward… but she might not care anymore.

“Isn’t there anyone else in this truck you guys can harass?” he groaned.

“None as interesting as you,” Miller said with a smirk that Bellamy saw through the rearview window.

 

The rest of the ride took forever, Bellamy thought. Sure, it was only two hours but it was the longest two hours of his life. It was too much of Lincoln flirting with Octavia for his taste. Plus, he hated how Miller and Octavia liked to gang up on him. They were the last group to arrive to the beach house, which he blamed Octavia for considering she was the reason they had a late start. And of course, she didn’t help unload the truck and instead just ran toward the house.

“Let me help you,” Lincoln offered, grabbing one of the suitcases out of Bellamy’s hands. Bellamy stopped what he was doing to just glare at Lincoln.

“Do you and I need to have a talk?” Bellamy asked in the most threatening tone he could manage. Lincoln just put the bag on the ground and leaned back on the truck, crossing his arms.

“If this is where you threaten me to make sure I don’t hurt your sister, save it. I’ve already gotten one of those lectures,” he said directly, not breaking eye contact from Bellamy.

“Don’t recall me giving you that lecture yet,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes at Lincoln.

“You didn’t. Clarke did,” he replied with a smirk. “She was thorough, too. A lot of death threats. A lot of threats of violence,” he continued, and Bellamy had to smirk at that. Of course, Clarke would be just as protective of Octavia. “So, unless you have something to add, save your breath. I’m more scared of her than you anyway,” he added before grabbing the bag and walking away. Bellamy stood there, jaw slightly dropped. Well, he underestimated Lincoln.

 

The party had already started once he got himself settled. Almost the entire staff was down by the beach, music blasting, and already drinking. He quickly changed into his swim trunks before heading outside. Raven and Octavia were laying out, tanning. Jasper and Monty were trying to build a sandcastle, but started off way too close to the water. Bellamy walked over to Roan, who immediately handed him a beer.

“About damn time you got here,” Roan joked, slapping Bellamy a little too hard on the back.

“Blame Octavia.” Bellamy looked around, not seeing Clarke anywhere. The people she rode with were all here, he noted. But, she wasn’t on the beach.

“She’s in the water,” Roan whispered before walking back toward Wells. Was he that transparent? He was just looking around, and Roan immediately knew who he was looking for. He let out a sigh, turning his gaze to the water. And there she was, about to go underwater. She was out pretty deep with Maya and Harper, who were both laughing about something. Then, Clarke popped back up and shot them a glare, which only made them laugh harder. Maya said something that made Harper laugh even harder and Clarke went back underwater after making a frustrated expression.

Bellamy laid out his towel before sliding off his sandals and taking off his shirt. Roan literally whistled at him and Bellamy shot him a wink. He turned back around, looking toward Maya and Harper who were now standing in the water without Clarke. Where the hell did she go?

“Bellamy!” he heard someone behind him call his name before he turned around to see Wells waving him over.

“Yeah?” he replied as he walked over toward Wells, who was laying out next to Roan.

“Since you’re up, will you grab me another beer?” he asked, and Bellamy rolled his eyes. Lazy, he thought, as he handed him a cold one from the cooler. He turned back around to see Clarke coming out of the water, wringing the water out of her hair as she moved toward them.

He started walking toward her, taking in the sight of her. He was used to working with her, where she almost always was wearing ridiculously inaccurate costumes. Or, he would see her in leggings and t-shirts around her apartment. But, he was not prepared to see her like this.

She was wearing a light blue bikini that she looked absolutely gorgeous in. Sure, her hair was an absolute mess from the water… but somehow it made her look even more attractive at that moment. He blushed immediately at the thought, thankful that he was wearing sunglasses so that she couldn’t see him completely check her out right there.

“About time you showed up,” she teased, walking right past him to grab her towel.

“It’s not easy trying to get Octavia to do anything on time,” he reminded, sitting down on his towel, hoping that Clarke would set herself up right next to him. She took a look at him, as if she were pondering whether or not she wanted to lie out next to him. Then, she looked over her shoulder, and Bellamy tried to figure out what she was looking at. Most of their friends were over there, so it could have been any of them. But, she laid her towel out next to him, before lying down, throwing an arm over her eyes.

“Were you nice to Lincoln?” she asked, not even looking at him.

“I’m always nice,” he reminded with a smirk.

She dropped her arm and leaned her head up to shoot him a glare. “You once called me a pretentious bitch after I beat you at trivia. Don’t give me that I’m always nice shit,” she snapped, and Bellamy swallowed.

“Well, you beat me at the history questions and I got mad. I apologize,” he replied with a smile, hoping to soften the stern look on her face.

“I’ll ask you again: were you nice to Lincoln?”

“Absolutely not. But, apparently, you’ve already threatened him enough for the both of us, princess.”

“Damn right, I did,” she said before taking a sip of her water. He started smirking at her, and couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed when she smirked back. “Not gonna lie. It was kind of a rush, threatening someone like that. I see why you do it so much now.”

“Okay, I don’t threaten people just to get the rush. I do it to protect my sister,” he clarified.

“And me, apparently,” she added, and he didn’t know what to say to that. He did threaten Finn for not exactly pure reasons, he was willing to admit now. He looked around, wondering where he was. He found Finn over by Jasper and Monty, helping with the failing sandcastle.

“Yeah, well. You’re important to me,” he blurted out, keeping his gaze out toward the water. He could feel Clarke giving him a look, but couldn’t get up the courage to look back at her.

She muttered something about getting back in the water and took off. Ugh, he screwed up, he realized. He wasn’t sure what it was but he clearly said something wrong.

He watched her for a little bit, hoping that none of his friends were going to give him a hard time about this one. She swam alone for a little bit, before Finn went out there to meet her. Bellamy really didn’t like that, he realized, as he felt himself clench his jaw.

“Easy there,” Octavia warned, as she plopped down next to him. Now, Clarke and Finn were talking about something and judging by their faces it seemed to be sort of serious.

“Does she still have feelings for him?” he found himself asking, immediately wishing he could take that question back. He didn’t like coming off as a jealous guy… especially when it came to an idiot like Finn. He wasn’t worth it.

“No, but she feels kind of bad for him.”

“Why?” Finn was the one that screwed Clarke and Raven over. She had absolutely no reason to feel anything but hatred toward that guy. He was a cheating ass.

“He’s all alone here. No one but her will really talk to him.”

“That’s his own damn fault,” Bellamy muttered, as he got up to get another beer.

 

Almost everyone was drunk, he realized as he tried to force his idiot friends into drinking water. He roped Clarke into helping him, mainly because he knew she was the only person who Roan would listen to.

They were all outside on the beach, lying out on their towels waiting for the fireworks to start. He was sitting with Octavia, who had recently begun hiccupping. Next to them was Roan and Wells, who weren’t even trying to keep their relationship a secret anymore.

“How much longer?” Jasper whined, and Bellamy started groaning.

“We don’t know, Jasper,” Clarke said as nicely as she could, which he admired. Jasper had already asked more times than he could count. It was amazing that Clarke hadn’t snapped at him yet. She was sitting next to Raven, a little bit behind Bellamy.

“But, I’m cold and wanna go back inside!” Jasper continued to whine, earning a groan from Clarke who was now standing up.

“I’ll go grab you a blanket,” she muttered, starting to walk toward the house. A few more people shouted at her to bring them one too.

“Here, I’ll help you,” Bellamy offered, standing up to follow Clarke. Octavia raised an eyebrow at him, which he tried his best to ignore.

He followed Clarke all the way back to the house and started looking for a linen closet.

“I hate drunk people,” Clarke muttered, opening a door by the kitchen, revealing a bunch of blankets. She started throwing them at Bellamy.

“But, drunk people love you, if Raven’s ramblings are any indication,” he teased.

“Ugh, please tell me I’m not that bad when I’m drunk,” she groaned, stacking up blankets in her arms.

“Not in that way, no. You just want to fight everyone. Kind of like when you’re sober,” he teased again, leaning against the wall next to the door, probably a little too close to Clarke. She shot him a playful glare, and he could feel his chest start to tighten. He didn’t get many opportunities to be alone with Clarke… and when he did he found himself suddenly feeling super nervous and overwhelmed.

“I do not want to fight everyone. Just you,” she teased, shutting the door.

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he joked, following Clarke toward the backdoor.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, princess,” he said with a smirk, noticing how flushed her cheeks were. He let out a small sigh of relief, calming down once he realized that she was feeling this change in energy between them too. She opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, like that she hated being called princess. But, then she shut her mouth, shifting her eyes to focus on walking out of the house. Maybe she didn’t hate that nickname anymore, he hoped. He really liked it, remembering how it used to be a name he gave her out of spite. And now… it just fit. She could never be just Clarke. She would always be princess. His princess.

 

The fireworks took longer to start than he had expected. This was difficult, especially considering how many of his drunk coworkers were already over being outside where it was kind of chilly.

“Is it even the Fourth of July?” Monty asked, earning a few drunken laughs. Bellamy rolled his eyes. That joke was funny the first two times he made it. Now, it was just getting old.

Then, Bellamy heard the unmistakable bang of the first firework.

“Fucking finally,” Octavia muttered, leaning back on her elbows to see the sky better. A few more fireworks went off, but Bellamy was looking around at all of his coworkers. Clarke was missing from her spot next to Raven. He kept looking around, but he didn’t see her blonde hair anywhere. He looked back at the house, noting that some of lights were on. She went back inside, but why, he wondered. He started to get up, making sure to crouch so that he didn’t block anyone’s view.

As he powerwalked over to the house, he started wondering why she had left. She seemed thrilled about the fireworks when they made their Fourth of July plans a few weeks ago. Maybe something was wrong or something happened, he thought to himself. When he got inside the house, it was completely silent. He walked upstairs to see if she went up to her room, but she wasn’t in there. He jogged down the stairs, still aware of the sound of fireworks in the background. He walked through the kitchen, hoping to find some clue as to where Clarke went. Then, he went through the side door to see if her car was still there. It was, and he let out a sigh of relief. Then, he heard something.

“I’ll text you when I get there.” Bellamy started creeping around the trees, to see Clarke and Finn talking by his car. He swallowed, feeling his jaw already starting to clench up.

“Drive safe,” she added, before pulling him into a hug. Finn was running his fingers through her hair, kissing her forehead. And Bellamy could feel both of his fists balling up as he suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Clarke broke away first, and Finn ducked into his car before pulling out of the driveway. Clarke stood there for a while longer, watching Finn drive away.

Bellamy couldn’t make sense of what he just saw. He forced himself to take a deep breath, but it still ended up being pretty shallow. He didn’t dare take his eyes off her, as she began to pace, keeping her hands above her head.

What the hell was going on with them? She clearly cared about him enough to skip out on the fireworks to say goodbye to him. And where the fuck was he going? And why was Clarke asking him to drive safe? Why would she even care?

He started walking toward her, his feet betraying his brain. Finn was an ass to her, Bellamy reminded himself. So, why the hell was he kissing her forehead like that? He screwed her, even though he already had a girlfriend. He broke her heart. Bellamy saw her cry. He saw the most stubborn, beautiful mess he had ever known completely fall apart over a stupid boy who never deserved her in the first place. And now, she was letting him hug her like that… Like he never hurt her.

“Clarke!” he felt himself shout without his consent. She snapped her head around, eyes wide, shooting him a confused look. He stopped dead in his tracks, still clenching his jaw.

“What?” she snapped, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

“What the hell was that?” he shouted, as he marched over toward her with more purpose.

“What the hell was what?” she shot back, as he towered over her now. She didn’t break eye contact, as she looked up at him stubbornly.

“Finn,” was all he could get out. He was probably snarling at this point, but he didn’t really care. He was pissed and didn’t care who knew it.

“He left,” she replied quietly, before stepping around Bellamy and heading back toward the house.

“I’m not done talking to you,” he snapped, as he jogged up to her and tugged on her arm.

“But, I’m done talking to you, so let go,” she growled, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

“Clarke,” he warned, still walking beside her as she stormed back toward the house. She whipped her head around to face him, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge him. They had reached the front door.

“Bellamy.”

“Why are you wasting your time on Finn?” he spat, stepping closer to her, backing her into the brick wall.

“Why would you care?” she asked with a smirk, not breaking eye contact. She was challenging him, and it was making his blood boil. He was not in the mood to play any more games with Clarke. He wanted an answer and he was going to get it.


	19. You Know Why I Care

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drama drama dramaaaaaa.
> 
> Anyway, here's Clarke's mega dramatic POV. A lot of angst and some feels but mostly angst. I'll try to get at least one more update up by Friday before I leave for my trip.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think of this chapter... I know a lot of you are going to have some opinions on what goes down here lol. I love you guys! Thank you so much for all of your feedback!

Did Finn really think that Clarke wouldn’t notice if he just got up and left? She was sneaking away from her friends toward the house, trying not to get angry at Finn. He had told her earlier that day that he wasn’t going with them to Tondc and was officially leaving Medici Magic. When he first told her, she felt like she handled it well. She gave him a few “you will be missed” or “it won’t be the same without you” and managed not to come off as secretly thrilled as she was. It wasn’t that she wanted Finn to leave… but, her days would probably be easier if he wasn’t around every single day.

Then, she heard the first bang of the fireworks. Fuck, she muttered to herself, kind of pissed that she was missing the fireworks just to chase after Finn. When she got into the house, Finn was coming down the stairs with his bag.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Clarke snapped, crossing her arms.

“I can’t stay here any longer,” he muttered, brushing past Clarke toward the front door. He stormed out, but Clarke wasn’t going to lose this easily. She followed him outside toward his car.

“What’s going on?”

“Clarke, stop,” he warned, putting his bag in the trunk. “I think it’d be best for everyone if I just left.” She was about to reassure him that no that wasn’t true, but she wasn’t going to lie to him. He was rubbing everyone the wrong way. Even though Raven never said anything, it was clear that Finn’s presence had been draining her. Not to mention the effect he had been having on Clarke.

“Just stay for the night and leave in the morning. Don’t go without saying goodbye.”

“I’ve already said goodbye to the only two people I cared about here,” he whispered, and Clarke felt her stomach drop.

“Finn.”

“Did you see what today was like? I have no friends here. I screwed that up when I screwed you and Raven over. This is literally nothing keeping me here now,” he snapped, turning around to look at Clarke. She could see the tears starting to form in his eyes, and Clarke could feel herself start to lose it too. Yeah, Finn had really screwed her and Raven over. He was an ass for that. But, he was right. He had no one here anymore. There was literally nothing to stay here for.

“So, you’re just going to leave?” Clarke asked, stepping toward him.

“I’m sorry, Clarke. For everything,” he started, and Clarke let out a sigh. She didn’t want to go through all of this with him again. He wasn’t going to get her back this way. “No, I’m not trying to make it okay. What I did was fucked up. And I’m not that kind of person… at least I don’t want to be. So, I’ve got to go figure some stuff out,” he murmured, running his fingers through his hair.

“You sure you should be driving this late?” she asked, starting to worry. Had he been drinking? No, she remembered, he had been chugging water all day.

“It’s only two hours back to Polis, and I’ll leave early in the morning to head home,” he explained, looking back at the house. She studied his face, suddenly coming to terms with the fact that this was their goodbye. She would probably never see him again, which she should feel relieved by. But, there was this sinking feeling in her stomach that made her realize that despite everything, some part of her would miss him.

“Okay,” was all she could get out, trying to keep herself from getting too emotional.

“I’ll text you when I get there.”

“Drive safe,” was the last thing she said before pulling him into a hug. Finn was gripping onto her hair, before pulling her head closer to kiss her forehead. She closed her eyes and just rested there a moment, not really ready to say goodbye to him. Not like this. Not on these horrible terms. She forced herself to pull away first, trying to ignore the sad look on his face as he glanced at her one last time.

Finn stepped into his car, and Clarke took a step back. She watched as he drove away, and let the tears come out all at once. It didn’t make sense. She hated Finn for what he did to her and to Raven. She should be happy to see him go.

But, she couldn’t be happy. Because, despite everything, there was a time where he made her happy. And she hadn’t been happy in so long. Maybe she was scared that she would never be happy like that again, that he was taking that happy part of herself with him.

Clarke let the tears dry out, as she paced back and forth in the driveway. She was going to be okay, she reminded herself. Finn wasn’t the only person who made her happy. She had her two best friends, she had Octavia, and she had Bellamy. All of them clearly cared about her. As long as she had them, she reminded herself, she was going to be okay. She could still hear the fireworks in the background. It sounded like it was still in the early stages, since they were still pretty sporadic.

“Clarke!” she heard someone yell, before she whipped her head around to face the house. It was Bellamy, who abruptly stopped walking and just glared at Clarke. What the hell did he want? He was supposed to be watching the fireworks.

“What?” she snapped.

“What the hell was that?” he yelled, causing Clarke to flinch. What was he even talking about? She hadn’t spoken to him since they went and got the blankets, so she wasn’t sure what she could have even done in that time to make him this mad.

“What the hell was what?” Bellamy was now looking down at her, less than six inches away from her face, shooting her a furious look. She didn’t back down, making sure to keep eye contact. He wasn’t going to intimidate her… regardless of whatever his problem was.

“Finn,” he growled, and suddenly everything clicked. He saw that goodbye. And for some reason he thought he had the right to be pissed about it.

“He left,” she muttered before stepping around him to head toward the house. Why the fuck would he care about her leaving the fireworks to say goodbye to Finn? He hated Finn and should have been happy to see him go. She heard footsteps behind her, as Bellamy jogged to catch up with her.

He grabbed her arm to turn her around. “I’m not done talking to you,” he groaned with a snarl on his face. Clarke narrowed her eyes, not in the mood to play whatever game Bellamy was playing tonight.

She yanked her arm out of his grasp, earning a shocked look from Bellamy. “But, I’m done talking to you, so let go,” she spat. She turned around quickly and started marching for the house, starting to question what her plan even is here. Was she just going to storm inside and expect him to not follow? This was Bellamy, for fuck’s sake. He wasn’t going to let this go.

“Clarke,” he started, as he walked in step with her toward the house. She turned to face him, raising an eyebrow.

“Bellamy.”

“Why are you wasting your time on Finn?” he growled, stepping forward. Clarke instinctively took a step back, only to be met by the brick wall of the beach house. She was trapped, with nowhere to run from this conversation. Bellamy was now towering over her again, narrowing his eyes at her. So, she hit him with the only response that would give her the power back in the argument.

“Why would you care?”

She tilted her head up and smirked, knowing all too well that she had just stumped him. And judging by the scowl that danced across his face, he now knew that too. He didn’t break eye contact though. Just stood there, staring Clarke down. She raised her eyebrow, as if to signal she was waiting for answer.

“You know why I care,” he muttered, keeping his stare just as intense.

“No, I really don’t,” she snapped. He had no reason to give a damn about what she did with Finn, or anyone else for that matter. She wasn’t his sister. She was barely his friend most days. And it was clear that he didn’t want to be with her, after he slept with Raven.

“Clarke,” he said in a warning tone, his face softening a little. She pushed his chest backwards to try to get herself some space. He took a step back, and Clarke took the opportunity to go inside. And, of course, Bellamy followed.

“What is your problem?” she yelled, turning around to look at him while he followed her into the kitchen.

“You’re screwing around with Finn again. That’s my problem!” he yelled back, throwing his hands in the air out of frustration.

“I can do whatever I want with whoever I want, Bell. Why the fuck is that such a problem for you?” She was grateful that the fireworks were still going, otherwise literally everyone on the beach would have heard them fighting. Bellamy’s eyes widened, still staring intensely at Clarke. He unclenched his jaw before storming over toward where Clarke was standing. She started to say something, but before she knew it he was pushing her up against the counter, lips crashing against hers. His hand was gripping her face possessively, as the rest of his body pressed up against hers.

His other hand was on her upper back, much more gentle than the rest of him. He started to move his lips, and Clarke felt her eyes close without her consent. She groaned into his mouth, parting her lips slightly. He pulled her face even closer, to deepen the kiss.

The kiss was aggressive, but breathtaking. Her heart was pounding and she wondered why she had been fighting against this so hard. It was nerve wrecking, but oddly comfortable. And for the first time in a while, she felt completely and utterly wanted.

But then, Clarke’s mind started to take back over, with a horrifying thought: did Bellamy kiss Raven like this? She felt her stomach drop, and pushed Bellamy away. She looked down at the floor, trying to gather her thoughts and catch her breath.

“Clarke,” she heard Bellamy whisper, and she suddenly felt sick.

“I’ve got to go,” she muttered, brushing past him, careful not to look at his face.

“What is wrong?” he said, pulling her by the arm. She looked up at him now, seeing the concern take over his eyes.

“I can’t do this with you,” she said, turning around. She needed to get away from him.

“Clarke, talk to me.”

“No!” she yelled, turning back to face him. Her face was probably bright red, but she really didn’t give a damn anymore.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Yeah, you did. You can’t just screw Raven one week and decide you want me the next week!” she shouted, before finally letting out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

“That’s not what happened,” he started, stepping toward her with his hands up defensively.

“Isn’t it, though?” she snapped, crossing her arms. Bellamy leaned his head up, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Not exactly, no,” he replied, stumbling a little to figure out what to say.

Clarke raised her eyebrows, waiting for a better explanation.

“The Raven thing was a one-time casual thing,” he said slowly, as if trying to calm her down. But, it just came off as condescending. “This is different. I’ve had feelings for you for a while now,” he explained.

“Since before you hooked up with Raven?” she asked, resulting in Bellamy throwing his head back again.

“That’s not---­" he started, before Clarke stormed up to him.

“Why her?” she yelled, pushing him in the chest. He tried to grab her wrists, but she slapped his hands away. “Why the fuck did it have to be Raven?”

“I wasn’t thinking,” he snapped back, shooting her an apologetic look. Clarke swallowed, before heading up the stairs. “Clarke!” he yelled, starting to follow her upstairs.

“Get the fuck away from me,” she growled, not even turning around.

“Let me explain,” he continued, starting to sound out of breath.

“No!” she snapped, turning her head to shoot him a stern glare. “Nothing you say can unscrew Raven, so don’t bother.” Then, she ran up the stairs to her room, and slammed the door.

 

She was left alone for about thirty minutes, before she heard her coworkers come back into the house. She had half expected Bellamy to show up, but was kind of grateful he stayed away for once.

She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had cried a bit, but quickly got over it. He wasn’t worth her tears, she kept reminding herself. Eventually, she heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, how are you?” Raven asked, and Clarke wanted to throw up.

“Fine,” she muttered, not looking up.

“What happened with you and Bellamy?” she asked, plopping down next to her on the bed. “Miller said he hasn’t seen him this bad. Did you two fight?”

“Did you know how Bellamy felt about me?” Clarke asked, needing to know once and for all.

“What?” she asked, shooting Clarke a confused look.

“When you slept with him. Did you know?”

“I suspected,” she muttered, shooting Clarke an apologetic glance.

“And did you know how I felt?”

“Yeah,” she whispered. Clarke stood up, moving away from the bed.

“I guess we’re even then,” she muttered, putting on her shoes.

“Clarke.”

“What?” she snapped, studying Raven’s face. Her eyes were widened as she pressed her lips together.

“I didn’t mean to---“

“Yeah, you did,” Clarke interrupted. “I get it,” she snapped, before slamming the door behind her on the way out.

 

She hardly slept that night, which was already proving to be a pain in her ass. She was outside sitting on the patio that overlooked the beach. No one else had really gotten up yet, which she was grateful for. She could use some quiet time before driving back in the same car as Raven.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Roan said as he plopped down next to her. Clarke groaned, already missing her alone time.

“What specifically are you referring to?” she said with a smirk.

“You broke Bellamy.” Roan leaned back in his seat, propping up his legs on the table and crossing his arms.

“Good,” she muttered, grabbing her phone to check her texts. Roan snatched it out of her hand, before tossing it onto the chair next to him.

“Clarke.”

“You can’t honestly blame me for snapping at him,” she said a bit angrily, wagging her finger at him.

“No, I don’t. Things have been fucked up between you two for a while,” he agreed, leaning his head on Clarke’s shoulder. “I just want to know what it was that finally made you snap.”

“He kissed me,” she muttered, and Roan sat up immediately to shoot her a wide-eyed look.

“Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell! It was stupid and he shouldn’t have done it.”

“Ugh, are you fucking kidding me?” he groaned.

“Roan, stop.”

“You two are the worst. I’ve been watching you two dance around each other for two summers. And then something actually happened, and you choose now to call him out? Clarke, why?” He was frantically moving his hands as he talked, as if to emphasize how frustrated he was.

She had to smirk at that. “Because he was being a dick.”

“That’s his whole thing, Clarke! You knew that already!” Clarke threw her head back, shaking her head slightly.

“Maybe I’m not crazy about how he hooked up with Raven,” she muttered finally.

“Fair,” he agreed, before sitting in silence for a few minutes. Clarke leaned her head onto his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

 

Most people were too hungover to talk as they all packed up their cars. Miller switched cars with Raven, so that was one less awkward situation for Clarke to worry about. She hadn’t really talked to Raven since she snapped at her last night. She wasn’t sure if it was entirely justified… but it needed to be said. Even though things were tense, Clarke felt much lighter now that all of that was off her shoulders.

“You gonna be okay?” Wells asked, putting an arm around Clarke’s shoulders. She gave him a sideways glance, before smiling softly.

“Of course. I’m Clarke, after all.” She slammed her trunk shut, before gesturing for Monty and Harper to get in the car. Miller was already sitting shot gun, fidgeting with her radio. Wells went off to get into Roan’s car. Clarke picked her purse off the ground before starting to walk toward her side of the car.

“Hey, Clarke?” she heard Bellamy say, before she turned around.

“Yeah?” she responded coolly, raising an eyebrow.

He just stood there for a moment, as if he had no idea what he was planning on saying. Clarke crossed her arms, impatiently waiting. She wanted to get back to Polis so that she could pack up her car and get on her way.

“Uh, Octavia just wanted to make sure that you text her when you stop on the way to Tondc,” he stammered out, looking at the ground.

“Tell her I will,” she said, fidgeting with her hands. This was so awkward, she thought. Just a few hours ago she was screaming at him. Just a few hours ago she was kissing him.

“And could you text me when you get to Tondc to let me know you got there okay?” he asked, making sure to actually look up at her. His eyes looked so tired and sad, she noticed, before nodding in response.

She got into her car, keeping an eye on Bellamy as he got into his truck. She let out a sigh, before directing her attention to pulling out of the driveway. Miller raised his eyebrow at Clarke, and she just shook her head in response.


	20. Is That Your Catch Phrase for the Summer?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. Sorry this update took so long. I had a bad bit of food poisoning... and it's really hard to update your fics when you are that sick.
> 
> Anyway, good news, I have wifi this week so you'll start getting updates again. This one is a short one, but I really wanted to crank out an update today since I left you guys hanging last week. I hope you guys like it.
> 
> To my American friends, happy early independence day. Love you guys and thanks for all the feedback!

It took Octavia an entire week to figure out everything that happened on the Fourth of July. A whole fucking week. That’s how long it took for Clarke to crack.

In that week, Clarke had hardly said a word to anyone. She was rarely in the apartment, probably to avoid Raven. Octavia couldn’t really blame her for that. At work, she kept her head down, not really going out of her way to talk to anyone. She had even been avoiding Roan and Wells, which was a huge red flag.

If Octavia had known that getting Clarke drunk was all she needed to do to make all of this stop, she would have done it a week ago.

Clarke’s head was currently in Octavia’s lap as she sobbed, mostly muttering nonsense.

“There, there,” Octavia reassured, patting Clarke on the head.

“Just why?” she groaned, not lifting her head up. Octavia let out a sigh, making a mental note to slap her brother later.

“Maybe he got scared. People make stupid mistakes when they’re scared,” Octavia answered, not entirely sure how to explain her brother’s stupid, stupid brain. She had talked to Lincoln about this a while back when she was trying to figure out why Bellamy hooked up with Raven. They had come to the conclusion that he was running away from his feelings for Clarke, which he probably found inconvenient and confusing.

Clarke didn’t respond to this, but her crying did seem to slow down.

“Have you had any more talks with Raven?”

Clarke lifted her head, eyes bright red from tears. She furrowed her eyebrows before shaking her head.

“Maybe you should. You guys do kind of live together.”

Clarke, now sitting up all the way, just narrowed her eyes at Octavia. “I have nothing to talk to her about. I’m not mad at her.”

“You’re avoiding her.”

“I’m not avoiding her,” Clarke said, slightly slurring her words. “I am just not close with her. Excuse me if I’m not going out of my way to talk about boys and paint my nails with her,” she spat, clearly starting to get angry. Octavia rolled her eyes and checked her phone. Lincoln had sent her two texts asking about how Clarke was doing, which Octavia would respond to once she had an actual answer.

“So, are you just going to let their dumb hook up ruin your entire summer?” Octavia snapped, crossing her arms.

“Fuck, no!” Clarke shouted, throwing herself backwards on the bed. She then put her arm over her eyes. “I’m going to enjoy my summer with my friends and forget all about Bellamy and Raven,” she mumbled.

“Don’t lie to me,” Octavia added, knowing all too well that this nonsense between her and Bellamy was far from over.

“I don’t care about Bellamy,” Clarke groaned, not even looking up at Octavia.

“Yes, you do,” she snapped, throwing herself backwards to lie next to Clarke. She groaned in response, causing Octavia to chuckle.

 

The first week at Tondc went really smoothly. They had big crowds for the first few days, but not too big that they were overwhelmed. Lincoln was now pretty committed to working in the arena, which Octavia wasn’t too crazy about.

It was no secret that she had feelings for Lincoln and that he felt the same way. Normally, Octavia wouldn’t care. But, she really didn’t like the idea of her overprotective brother having the opportunity to knock Lincoln off a horse whenever he felt like it. had happened between her and Lincoln yet, and she really didn’t want Bellamy doing something stupid to prevent something from happening eventually.

“It wasn’t even that hard of a hit,” Bellamy argued, sitting at the counter of the tavern.

“Literally everyone who was watching you two said otherwise,” Octavia snapped, leaning over the counter to glare at him directly in the eyes. “You need to stop it.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” he shouted, throwing his hands up exasperatedly.

Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Is that your catch phrase for the summer?” That earned a snort from Roan, who was helping Octavia unload some inventory.

“Octavia,” Bellamy started.

“No, just stop being a dick! It’s really not that hard!” she yelled, thankful that it was still morning and no real customers had come in yet.

“Dude, Lincoln isn’t Atom,” Roan joined in, throwing an arm around Octavia. She nodded aggressively in agreement. “He really cares about your sister and I guarantee he would not hurt her.”

“You two have made your point,” Bellamy groaned, putting his face in his hands.

“Hey, Roan?” Octavia heard someone shout, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. Octavia lifted her head to see Clarke jogging in.

“Yeah?” he asked, stepping toward her. Octavia noticed how Bellamy’s head had shot up, but his face was kept pretty neutral.

“Wallace needs you to take over Lincoln’s shift at the arena,” she said coolly. “Apparently, some idiot knocked him off a horse and he’s going to be in medical for the rest of the day,” she snapped, glaring in Bellamy’s direction. His face was bright red. Roan groaned in response, before smacking Bellamy in the back of the head. Roan hated arena duty.

“How is he doing?” Octavia asked, walking around the counter to meet Clarke.

“We’ll have a better idea once the swelling goes down, but he will probably be just fine. Also, he was asking for you.” Octavia could feel something strange in her stomach at those words, almost like excitement. She was so worried about him, but couldn’t help but be caught up by how sweet it was that he was thinking about her, even when he was in pain. “I’ll watch the tavern for you if you want to go now,” Clarke suggested. Octavia didn’t hesitate to run out once she said those words.

 

She visited Lincoln every opportunity she got. She really should have just stayed in the tavern… that was her damn job after all. But, when Clarke and Roan kept offering to cover for her, she couldn’t resist. A few times when she went, Lincoln was asleep. She would sit there for a few minutes, just studying his face. As much as she wanted to talk to him, she had been reminded by Harper and Maya how important his rest was going to be.

The fourth time she went to visit him, he was awake but a little groggy.

“So, how’s the tavern?” he grumbled, blinking to keep his eyes open.

“It’s being covered by Roan, and it hasn’t been too busy.”

“That’s good.”

“How are you?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him. He was propped up on one of the cots they had in the back in case of emergencies. Usually, Medici Magic didn’t have a lot of injuries. The customers usually would just get overheated or overeat. Injuries here really only occurred to its employees.

He kept his eyes closed and reached out to grab her hand. Octavia held her breath. “Better now that you’re here,” he mumbled, and Octavia could feel her heart start to melt.

 

After her sixth visit to see Lincoln, she realized that it was almost time to close and needed to head back to the tavern, where Clarke was probably eager to leave. She had her own things to go shut down over by the stage, and it really wasn’t fair of Octavia to dump her responsibilities on her.

When she walked back into the tavern, she saw Bellamy sitting at the counter, while Clarke was cleaning glasses. She really should just walk away, she thought, wondering if it would be best to give these two a few minutes to talk. But, the little sister in her was also curious about what he was saying to her, so she quietly walked closer to them, hoping not to disturb them.

“Have you even heard from him lately?” Bellamy asked, tapping his fingers on the counter.

Clarke didn’t look up, drying out a glass with a towel before putting it back on the shelf. “No.”

“Oh.”

They stayed like that for a good two minutes of silence. Clarke never looked at him, just kept busy. Meanwhile, all he did was look at her as he tried to come up with anything else to say.

“How’s the new guy?”

“Cage? He’s alright. Not as talented, but he works hard,” she mumbled.

“He’s Wallace’s son, right?”

“Apparently.”

Bellamy resumed tapping on the counter, watching Clarke rinse out a few more glasses.

“You sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?” he asked, a little too desperate to find an in. Octavia was cringing for him, not liking how hard he was trying and failing at the moment. Clarke turned off the water and stood there for a second, leaving the glasses in the sink before she turned around to actually look at Bellamy.

“What is going on with you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

Bellamy opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but quickly shut it, shaking his head slightly. Octavia decided now would be a good time to save her brother from any further awkwardness and made her presence known.

“Clarke, thanks for covering for me!” she said a little too loudly, startling both of them. Clarke blinked a few times, before snapping out of whatever was just going on.

“Yeah, no problem. How’s Lincoln?”

“He’s better.”

Bellamy got up to leave, only turning back once to look at Clarke with a strange look on his face. What the hell even was that, Octavia wondered.

After he left, Clarke mumbled something about needed to close up the stage for the night, leaving Octavia alone in the tavern. She let out a breath as she leaned her back against the counter. Tomorrow will be better, she reassured herself.


	21. You're the Worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad you guys liked the last chapter. And now I got another update for you guys and hopefully you'll like it just as much.
> 
> Thanks for all your feedback. I constantly check my account to wait for your comments after I post a chapter. Love you guys! Have a good Fourth of July!

The first two weeks at Tondc went by pretty quickly, Clarke thought. It was a smoother transition than the last two places, which Clarke attributed to the fact that they’d already done this twice this summer. The only real hurdles to jump through was moving Roan into the arena to replace Lincoln and working with Cage Wallace.

Roan had worked in the arena in previous summers, but had specifically requested to never have to work there again. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good at it. No, he was a little too good at it, Clarke thought. If they actually fought unchoreographed duels, Roan would knock Bellamy on his ass every single time without difficulty. But, Roan hated the drama that came with working there, or at least that was what he told Clarke. Her theory was that two summers ago something happened between him and Bellamy in the arena to make him want to stop working there, which she could totally see. Bellamy literally took out Lincoln’s shoulder just because he couldn’t keep his overprotective temper in check. As for Roan, he had a similar overprotective side. And Bellamy had a scandalous reputation at Medici Magic. Clarke could easily see a reason those two would fight.

He and Bellamy had been butting heads for the whole past week, which was getting annoying to literally everyone who worked there, but especially Clarke, who Roan had chosen to vent to every single day since he got moved into the arena.

“He doesn’t even have good form when he jousts!” he groaned, throwing a dart at the board, missing the center by less than an inch.

“He looks okay to me,” Clarke added, not really wanting to gang up on Bellamy. She wasn’t his biggest fan at the moment, no. But, she also didn’t want to put her foot in her mouth. He was still her coworker.

“His back is too slouched over. No wonder Atom could knock him off that horse so easily. A child could,” he muttered into his drink. Wells had ditched them an hour ago, probably tired of hearing the same complaints about Bellamy over and over.

“Remember, he’s your friend,” Clarke reminded, leaning against the counter.

“Yeah, but he’s also a jackass.” Roan looked around the room, probably double-checking that no one from work was at the bar. They shouldn’t be, Clarke reminded herself, knowing that she picked this bar because it was not within walking distance of the apartments. “Since when are you team Bellamy? I thought we hated him.”

“I don’t hate him,” she said, hesitating on the word hate. She didn’t hate him. She just didn’t know how she felt about him anymore. On one hand, she really missed how close they had gotten. On the other hand, when she was around him she couldn’t help but think about that kiss, followed by everything else that came up that night. He was under her skin and she couldn’t stand that. She found herself simultaneously flustered, nervous, and pissed whenever she was around him.

“Oh, cool. So, are you finally going to jump on that?” Roan smirked, nudging Clarke with his shoulder. She must have made a face, because he burst out laughing.

“We’re just trying to slowly work our way back to being friends.”

“Hard to be friends once you’ve had his tongue in your mouth,” Roan muttered, and Clarke slapped him on the arm, causing him to choke on his drink.

“I’m never telling you anything again,” Clarke yelled over Roan’s laughter.

“Oh, please. You know you’re going to text me as soon as you two sleep together. And you know I’m gonna have lots of questions,” he said with a devious smile, and Clarke groaned.

“I liked it better when you were bitching about Bellamy,” she muttered, picking up the dart.

“And I will always bitch about Bellamy. Doesn’t mean I don’t want you two to get it on in the meantime.”

 

Her other problem in Tondc was Cage Wallace, the most arrogant and rude man she had ever met… and that’s coming from someone who knows Bellamy Blake.

The most frustrating thing about him was that he was always right. He fought Clarke about moving the backdrops from the left side of the stage to the right side, so free up some space on the right so that some of the smaller props were easier to get to. Clarke’s argument was that this was how it was done every year, so there had to be some logic to it. But, he wore her down and she gave in to let them try it his way for the next performance. And he was right… like he always fucking was. Everything ran smoother. She had more time in between scenes to get herself together because she wasn’t sprinting to the other side of the backstage to get her props and extra pieces of costume.

He was talented, to be sure. Not as good as Finn… but Clarke struggled to remember anyone from Medici Magic who was as good as Finn. But, Cage was competitive. While Finn worked with Clarke, Cage worked against her, using every scene as an opportunity to one up her performance. And she did the same thing. Before she knew it, her performances became way more aggressive and passionate than they ever were for Finn… but only because she didn’t want Cage to beat her.

Her competitive side was going to be her downfall.

And it was this competitive side that got her in her current predicament: teamed up with Bellamy Blake on trivia night at Grounders.

Cage had partnered up with Monty and was sitting at the table across the room, looking smug. God, Clarke hated this asshole.

When all of them had first gotten to Grounders, Cage had offered to team up with Clarke, saying they would make a good team. That’s when Clarke lied and said she had already promised Bellamy they would team up, earning a very confused look from him.

“You literally never want to be my teammate at trivia,” he whispered into her ear, momentarily distracting her from glaring at Cage.

“That’s because I normally want to just beat you. Now, I want to beat him,” she said, gesturing her head toward Cage.

“He can’t be that bad,” he replied, narrowing his eyes at Clarke.

“I hate him,” Clarke groaned, turning to make eye contact with Bellamy. He was smirking at her with one eyebrow raised, and all of the sudden Clarke realized what a horrible idea this was. She might not be able to focus if he was going to keep this up all night.

“You also hate me,” he teased, nudging Clarke on the shoulder.

“No, you and I are friends who like to compete. He’s the jackass that’s taking over my theater,” she said, wagging her finger at Bellamy, who was putting his hands up slightly, admitting defeat.

“Poor princess,” he teased again, patting Clarke on the head. Why the fuck was he patting her on the head? That was so weird, Clarke thought. Like he was trying too hard to be her friend and overshot, ending up in big brother territory.

“Don’t mock me. This guy is the worst,” she snapped.

“I don’t doubt it. Not too crazy about him myself,” Bellamy murmured, much to Clarke’s confusion. She wasn’t aware that they had interacted at all… at least not enough for Bellamy to have an opinion on the guy.

“What’d he do to you?” she asked, wondering if this was just Bellamy making snap judgements about people or if something had actually happened.

“Nothing to me. Just rubs me the wrong way,” he muttered, and Clarke knew there was more to it than that, but didn’t want to push it. It was going to be a long night… and she needed Bellamy if she was going to get through it.

 

The first few questions were easy. Clarke and Bellamy took turns snatching the paper from the other to write down the answer.

“In what country was inventor Nikola Tesla born?” Clarke grabbed the pen out of his hand before writing down Serbia. Bellamy nodded along, as if to say he knew that one, too. Clarke rolled her eyes, looking around the room to spot Cage. He was writing something down before slamming the pen back down on the table.

“What country hosts the world’s oldest parliament?” Bellamy picked up the pen before jotting down Iceland, and raising an eyebrow at Clarke. She didn’t know that one, and wasn’t sure how he even did.

“In the television show Seinfeld, what was Kramer’s first name?” Bellamy paused for a second, looking up at Clarke. She knew the answer and reached out for the pencil. He handed it to her, looking skeptical, as she wrote down Cosmo. He narrowed his eyes to look at what she wrote, looking confused by the answer.

“Only six people have declined a Nobel Prize. Name two of these people.” Clarke slid the pen over to Bellamy, noticing his smirk out of the corner of her eye. She could probably figure out at least one, she argued to herself. But clearly, he had this question in the bag. He wrote down Sartre and Lu Duc Tho and then leaned in to whisper something in her ear.

“Fun fact: those two are the only ones out of the six to decline it voluntarily,” he whispered, before smirking at Clarke, knowing that she hated it when he knew things she didn’t. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to ignore his growing smirk.

“You’re the worst,” she teased, play-shoving him in the shoulder.

“You’re winning because of me,” he replied, gesturing to the scoreboard. They had a steady lead, especially because neither Monty or Cage had an easy time with the history questions. Luckily, Clarke had Bellamy for that.

“Uh, I’ve been holding my own here, mister!”

“Oh, trust me. I know.”

Cage and Monty eventually caught up to them, after a few physics questions that left Clarke and Bellamy stumped. Luckily, the final question was one that Clarke knew the answer to.

“Which of Henry VIII’s wives were related and how?” Clarke started grinning immediately and Bellamy started groaning a little too loudly. This wasn’t the first time they had been asked this question in trivia.

She yanked the pen out of his hand, earning a stern look from him. She wrote down _Anne Boleyn and Kathryn Howard, first cousins_ and then slammed the pen back down onto the table in victory.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he groaned, putting his face in his hands. A year ago, on their first ever trivia night, this question was asked. Clarke got it right and Bellamy got it wrong, despite being such a history buff. Clarke teased him about this for weeks, earning enough passive aggression to last her a lifetime. It was this question that started their trivia feud.

“What’s wrong, history nerd?” she asked with a smirk, sliding the paper to the announcer.

“How the fuck did you even know that?” he asked in a frustrated manner.

“Let it go, Blake. It’s been a year,” she teased, nudging him with her elbow. He put his head onto the table, still groaning.

“You’re the worst.”

“Uh, considering I just won this game for us, I’m definitely the best,” she gloated, grinning like an idiot.

“Yeah, you are,” he agreed, sitting up to look at her. He looked so genuine as he said it, which Clarke found unnerving. She forced herself to break eye contact, reminding herself that she wanted to just be his friend. That was what she decided when she pushed him away.

“And now that asshole Cage knows it, too,” she joked, looking over at him and Monty arguing about their final answer.

“Don’t you start getting a new trivia nemesis. Remember, I was here first,” he teased, leaning his shoulder into Clarke to bump into her. They were just friends now, she reminded herself again and again. She could do this.

 

When she got home, Octavia was still out with Lincoln, leaving her alone in the apartment with Raven. She snuck in quietly, hoping not to alert Raven to her presence. But, Raven happened to come out of the bathroom right at that moment.

“Hey, where have you been?” she asked.

“Trivia night. I kicked Cage’s ass,” Clarke replied, kicking off her shoes.

“Nice. Next time, let me know so I can join you guys,” she said excitedly, and Clarke forgot for a moment that things had been weird between her and Raven. She started to remember how easily they fell into being friends that one night at the bar, kind of feeling nostalgic for a time where they were closer.

“Yeah, sure.” Clarke threw her bag on the couch and started moving toward her bedroom.

“Clarke?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we okay?” Raven asked, leaning against the door frame of the bathroom.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Clarke answered, not really wanting to get into all the unspoken problems between them.

“Because I slept with Bellamy even though you clearly had feelings for him. And that was a dick move,” Raven blurted out, raising both of her eyebrows at Clarke. She was calling Clarke out on her passive aggression.

“Don’t worry about it,” Clarke muttered, moving to her room. “Bellamy and I aren’t a thing anyway.”

“But, you would have been if I hadn’t screwed that up.”

“Or if Bellamy hadn’t,” Clarke blurted out, stopping in her tracks before turning around. “I’m not going to act like I love what happened. But, it’s history. You and I can be friends and move on.” Clarke was crossing her arms, raising an eyebrow back at Raven who looked genuinely surprised.

“And you and Bellamy?”

“There is no me and Bellamy,” she said coolly.

“Friends don’t bullshit each other, Clarke,” she said with a smirk.

“Yeah, well. People who have feelings for you aren’t supposed to sleep with other people. Lots of people are doing things they aren’t supposed to.” Clarke turned away to go into her room. She wanted to get out of her shirt, which smelled a bit like beer. Then, she heard her phone ringing in the living room. “Can you get that?”

“Yeah!” Raven shouted, and finally Clarke heard her phone stop ringing. She heard Raven say a few things but it was mostly quiet. Then, she heard Raven running toward her. Clarke whipped her head around once she ran in and held the phone out.

“It’s Lincoln. He’s at the hospital.” Clarke felt her stomach drop, not ready for what Raven hadn’t said yet.

“What?” she asked, grabbing the phone out of her hand.

“Octavia’s hurt,” was all Raven added, and Clarke could feel herself struggle to breathe.


	22. Stay Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long. I lost wifi on my trip so this had to wait until I got home. 
> 
> Anyway, this is a longer chapter. Sorry for leaving you guys on a cliff hanger last update, but I'm hoping this chapter makes up for that :)
> 
> I'm starting to plan some chapters that'll be coming up like five or six updates from now and I was wondering if you guys had any opinions on this fic getting a little smutty. I'm curious about your thoughts on that. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think of the chapter! Loving the feedback I've been getting, especially from the last chapter. You guys are wonderful!

He had to go for a walk, he decided as he threw his stuff onto the bed and walked back out the door. Bellamy just got back from trivia night and was too overwhelmed to think straight. He practically sprinted down the outside stairs and started heading toward the sidewalk. He put his hands over his head and started forcing himself to take deep breaths.

Fucking Clarke Griffin, he groaned to himself.

As he replayed the events of the night over and over, he started reading into moments that probably weren’t even moments. Was Clarke meaning to flirt by teasing him like that? Or was she just being competitive like she normally was with trivia?

Did she want to be his teammate just because she wanted to win? Or was there more to it?

He thought back to how he patted the top of her head like she was a fucking dog. What the hell was that?

He powerwalked past the gas station, thankful to finally be at a part of the sidewalk where there were no people. He forced himself to take a few more deep breaths before settling down onto a bench. He put his head in his hands, groaning quietly.

He was falling for Clarke Griffin and was terrified that she wanted nothing to do with him. That thought caused a thunderous ache throughout his chest. God, he fucked up.

He wished he could blame all of this on his hookup with Raven… but he knows it goes so much farther than that.

He thought back to the year before when they first got to Tondc and Wallace introduced him to Clarke. She seemed cold, he remembered, very distant, as he showed her around the fair on her first day. Then, he started trying to make conversation, figuring that he might as well get to know his new coworker.

She let it slip that she was from Alpha Station, one of the richest cities in the country. And Bellamy couldn’t keep his fucking mouth shut when she said she was going through a hard time. He muttered about how hard it must be for someone who’s never had to struggle financially. And her jaw clenched so hard and eyes narrowed at him, for a moment he was struck by how terrifyingly beautiful she was when angry, before shaking the thought out of his head.

“You don’t know anything about me,” she declared sternly, crossing her arms.

“Sure I don’t, princess,” he smirked, before walking away to continue the tour.

That was all it took for her to start hating him. And then, all they did was clash at work, getting into screaming fights… which if Bellamy was being totally honest, may have all been his fault. He remembers going out of his way to get under her skin, calling her princess even though she hated it, suggesting her to Wallace whenever he had a task that Bellamy didn’t want to do.

He was horrible to her. He wasn’t stupid. After all that, why would someone like Clarke ever want someone like him?

He sat up, leaning back slowly and closing his eyes. She wouldn’t want him. Or at least shouldn’t.

But, there was still one moment that he clung to: the few seconds that Clarke kissed him back before pushing him away. She felt something at that moment, he could tell. He could feel her melt in his arms for just a few seconds, and he thought he had her. He really did. For those few seconds, the pounding in his chest calmed down and was drowned out by the thousands of thoughts taking over his brain: how nice she smelled, how soft her lips were, how he could feel her heart pounding, too.

He let out a sigh, starting to stand up. He should really head back before his roommates wonder where he went.

As he walked back, he thought of Clarke, of the face she made when she was struggling to push him away.

He thought about how she was smiling around him that night at trivia, wondering if that’s the first time she had smiled like that around him since the fight. That gave him some hope. He was going to do whatever it took to keep her smiling like that.

As he approached the apartment building, he noticed that Clarke’s car was gone. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think of where she would have gone at this time of night.

He would text her once he got to his phone, he decided. He opened the apartment door, only to see Miller sprinting toward him.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Miller yelled. “And why the fuck didn’t you take your phone?”

Bellamy rubbed his eyes and just stared blankly at Miller, who looked simultaneously pissed and exhausted. “You okay?” Bellamy asked, confused as to why Miller was acting like this.

“No, I’m not okay. You took off without your phone, so I had Clarke fucking Griffin storming into this apartment looking for you because Octavia is in the hospital, Bellamy!”

Bellamy’s stomach dropped and eyes widened. “What?” he shouted, rushing to his room to grab his phone and wallet. Miller dangled his keys and gestured with his head for them to leave.

“She got into a wreck. Clarke and Lincoln are at the hospital with her,” Miller explained, opening the front door as Bellamy ran back into the living room. “I don’t know any specifics because I yelled at Clarke to go to the hospital and said I would get you there when we found you.”

The two of them ran down the stairs toward Miller’s truck. Once he was seated in the car, everything started to hit him all at once. His baby sister got into a wreck. She was on a date with Lincoln tonight.

“Who was driving?” he growled.

“Not sure,” Miller said, eyes fixed on the road. Bellamy forced himself to take a deep breath, putting his hands over his head. “But, Lincoln was the one to call Clarke. So, he must be okay.” Bellamy’s jaw started to clench at those words. Lincoln didn’t get to be okay, not if his sister got hurt because of him.

 

Luckily for Bellamy, the hospital was just a five minute drive from the apartment complex. If it had been a moment longer, he might have exploded in Miller’s truck. He sprinted into the lobby and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Lincoln sitting there. He looked pretty beat up, with a few small cuts on his face and more on his arms. Then, Lincoln looked up and saw Bellamy glaring at him and immediately stood up to walk over to him.

“What the fuck happened?” Bellamy shouted, not giving a damn if everyone in this hospital could hear him. He moved toward Lincoln, shoving him backwards.

“Bellamy,” Lincoln started, putting his hands up defensively.

“How the fuck did this happen?” he yelled, moving toward him. Miller, who had been out parking the car, sprinted in to pull Bellamy back. Bellamy brushed Miller away, but kept his glare locked on Lincoln. “You were supposed to fucking protect her,” Bellamy growled, and he could see the secretary calling over someone to help diffuse the situation.

“Bellamy Blake!” someone yelled, but he didn’t bother to look up and see who it was. All he cared about was dealing with Lincoln. He started to move toward him, but someone else pushed Lincoln out of the way. “Bellamy!” Clarke yelled again, stepping in between Bellamy and Lincoln. Bellamy let out a breath and took a step backwards, reminding himself that Clarke was not involved in this and he didn’t need to blow up at her.

“Clarke, move,” he growled as calmly as he could, eyes locking on Lincoln. Lincoln looked to the side with a concerned look on his face, and he could see Clarke do the same thing out of the corner of his eye. Bellamy tried to move around her, but she continued to step in his way. He clenched his jaw.

“He wasn’t driving,” Clarke practically whispered, pulling on Bellamy’s arms. “This isn’t his fault,” she added, still holding onto his arms. Bellamy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He heard Lincoln step away and Miller was whispering something to him. When he reopened his eyes, he saw Clarke mouthing something to someone. He turned his head to see that a few guys from security were watching them closely, and Bellamy realized how terrifying he must have looked threatening Lincoln like that.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling his arms away from Clarke.

“Sit,” she ordered and he obeyed, throwing himself down in one of the lobby chairs behind her. “I’m gonna go see what I can find out,” she added before taking off to the front desk. Bellamy took another deep breath, before turning his head to look at Lincoln. He was having a pretty serious discussion with Miller, probably about the accident. Miller would fill him in, Bellamy figured, not wanting to scare anyone by going over toward Lincoln again.

Bellamy pulled out his phone to see all the missed calls. Three from an unknown number, probably the hospital. Six from Lincoln. Five from Miller. Four from Roan. Twenty-three from Clarke.

He took another deep breath, kicking himself for not taking his phone on that walk. All he wanted was to be where no one could bother him for a while. But, it was still stupid.

Bellamy saw a nurse walk in, followed by Clarke immediately sprinting from the front desk to talk to her. They exchanged a few words and Bellamy could see Clarke’s jaw clench, so he calmly walked over to them.

“There’s no reason why you can’t tell us what her injuries even are,” Clarke snapped, doing that thing where she shouted quietly. “I know hospital protocol,” she added, furrowing her eyebrows. Then, Clarke saw Bellamy. “He’s her brother. You could at least tell him,” she said, gesturing to Bellamy. The nurse pursed her lips, but didn’t make eye contact with him.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” Bellamy reached out to pat her back, hoping to calm Clarke down. She was furrowing her eyebrows angrily, before jerking away and pulling out her phone and dialing someone. Bellamy shot the nurse an apologetic look before walking over to Miller.

“She’s going to be okay,” he reassured, patting Bellamy on the shoulder.

“You don’t know that,” Bellamy muttered.

“Lincoln described what he remembered from the accident. She was still conscious when the ambulance got there. Pretty badly banged up, probably with a head injury, but she was able to walk once she got out of the truck,” Miller explained, and Bellamy let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

“Thank God,” he muttered, throwing himself down on a chair. He sat there for a few moments in silence, wondering where Clarke had gone off to. He thought about going to look for her, but he needed to be in that lobby in case a doctor came in with some information. Then, he saw her walk back in to check on Lincoln. They both looked horrible, Bellamy thought. Lincoln looked physically beaten up and emotionally drained. Clarke looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks, practically a ghost with how pale she was.

“Mr. Blake!” someone called out, and Bellamy immediately stood up. He practically sprinted over to the nurse, who was shooting a glare at Clarke. Bellamy turned to look at her, but she immediately looked down at the floor. “Right this way,” she said, a bit hostilely.

“Thank you,” he mumbled as she took him down a hallway, where a doctor was waiting for him outside a room.

 

They were able to take Octavia home that night, which Bellamy was so grateful for. She had a pretty serious concussion along with a contusion on the part of her head that hit the dashboard. She was also pretty cut up from the shattered glass. But, luckily, like Lincoln, those cuts were pretty superficial and not actually serious. Clarke and Bellamy helped Octavia up the stairs, who was struggling to walk straight from her dizziness.

“I’m gonna throw up,” she groaned, and Bellamy patted her on the back.

“That’s normal with a concussion,” Clarke reminded, keeping her hand steadily on Octavia’s side.

“Thanks, doc,” Octavia muttered as she leaned her head onto Bellamy’s shoulder. Raven was waiting for them at the door, holding it open for them as they slowly moved toward the apartment.

“How are you feeling?” Raven asked, as Octavia tried to sit down on the couch. Clarke ran into the bathroom to get a small trash can, in case Octavia had to throw up.

“Like a minivan crashed into me,” she muttered, closing her eyes.

“Nope, stay awake!” Clarke shouted as she came in, causing Octavia to jerk her eyes back open.

“I thought the no sleeping thing was a myth,” Raven said, raising an eyebrow.

“Sort of. But, considering she is too dizzy to walk and is barely holding a conversation with us, she shouldn’t be falling asleep yet,” Clarke explained, before walking into Octavia’s bedroom and coming back with blankets and pillows. Bellamy helped sit Octavia up so Clarke could put a pillow behind her.

“You’re such a good friend,” Octavia muttered, blinking her eyes to stay awake. “And so are you,” she said gesturing to Raven.

“What about me?” Bellamy joked, a little mad that he didn’t make the list.

“You don’t get to be my friend. You’re my brother,” she groaned, earning a chuckle from everyone in the room.

 

A few hours passed and Raven had gone off to bed. Bellamy couldn’t really blame her. It had been a long night and she was probably about as exhausted as he and Clarke were. Once Clarke gave the okay, Bellamy carried Octavia into her room and tucked her in.

“Did you threaten Lincoln?” she asked sleepily, turning onto her side.

“Yes,” he admitted. “I’ll apologize to him tomorrow,” he added, before remembering that it was already tomorrow. Fuck, he had to get up for work in just a few hours.

“You better. He’s not going anywhere,” she mumbled.

“Okay,” he humored her, trying not to roll his eyes.

“No, seriously. I think I love him,” she said, grabbing onto Bellamy’s wrists.

“We’ll continue this talk when you’re feeling better,” he said, not wanting to keep going in this direction. She hardly knew Lincoln. Barely a month. And they haven’t been together that whole month anyway. That was too early for her to think she was in love.

“Okay, but then you’re gonna talk about Clarke,” she whispered, eyes closed. Bellamy kissed her forehead before walking toward the door.

“Sure,” he whispered back as he shut the door.

When he walked back into the main room, he saw Clarke frantically washing dishes. She jumped when she heard him.

“So, I’ll check on her in about an hour if you want to go get some sleep,” she said, turning her attention back to the dishes.

“Okay,” he mumbled, starting to move toward the front door. Clarke continued to focus on cleaning as Bellamy reached out for the door handle. He really should go get some sleep, he reminded himself. He had to work in a few hours. It would be unsafe for him to joust while this sleep deprived. Especially since they were already down Lincoln.

But, he really wanted to be there if Octavia needed him.

“Actually, do you mind if I stay?” he asked, causing Clarke to finally look up from the sink. “I just want to be able to check on her,” he added, not wanting to imply that there was any other reason for him to want to stay.

“Go ahead,” she replied, taking the gloves off her hands.

“I can crash on the couch.”

“You can go crash in my room,” Clarke said, practically ordering him as she pointed to her room. “I’m not tired anyway.”

“Clarke,” he started.

“Bellamy,” she replied sternly, crossing her arms. “Go to sleep,” she ordered, raising her eyebrows at him.

“I’m not taking your bed,” he argued.

“Yes, you are.”

“No.”

“We’ve had this argument before, Blake,” she reminded him. “Unlike you, I cannot just pick you up off the couch to force you to sleep in a bed. But, I’m asking you nicely to just do as I ask.”

“This is you asking nicely?” he teased, leaning against the counter. Clarke closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose out of frustration.

“Please?” she asked. Bellamy groaned, as he marched toward Clarke’s room.

“Whatever you say, princess,” he muttered, before realizing that he called her princess again. Fuck, he mentally yelled at himself. She hates being called that. He turned to look at her, but she seemed unfazed. Maybe she didn’t hear it.

When he got into Clarke’s room, he was struck again by how empty it was. He kicked off his shoes and plopped onto her bed and turning off the light. He rolled over onto his stomach, pulling up the blankets to cover him up.

He should have been able to just fall asleep. He never had difficulty drifting off to sleep, and he was certainly exhausted enough that he should have passed out by now. But something was keeping him awake, and it may or may not be the fact that Clarke’s bed smelled like her.

No, it didn’t just smell like a hint of Clarke. It overwhelmingly reeked of her shampoo smell, and her dryer sheets that made all of her clothes smell like flowers. He was being bombarded by things that made him think of Clarke, but she wasn’t there. He looked at the wall to see her way too organized calendar. He saw the jacket she wore to the bar earlier thrown across her desk chair. There were stacks of art magazines on the floor beside her bed.

He had to have been lying there for about an hour, tossing and turning, trying to get Clarke out of his head. But she was surrounding him, without even being in the room. He threw himself out of her bed to go check on Octavia.

Then, as he came back into the main room, he saw Clarke sitting at the kitchen table, asleep, resting her head on top of her arms as she leaned over the table.

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered, wondering what made Clarke this stubborn that she literally fought off going to sleep. He was going to drag her ass into her bed, whether she liked it or not. He couldn’t sleep in there anyway. “Clarke,” he whispered, as he pulled her chair backwards. She turned her head slightly, blinking a little bit to wake up. “Come on,” he whispered as he put his arms under her legs to pull her out. She sleepily threw her arms around his neck and leaned into his chest.

“I could walk, you know,” she mumbled, not even opening her eyes.

“Sure, you could.” He put Clarke down onto her bed, pulling the covers over her. She kept blinking, trying to wake herself up. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered before turning around to walk out.

“Bell,” Clarke managed to get out, causing him to whip his head around. She patted the bed next to her, gesturing for him to stay. He could feel his chest tighten.

“No, I’ll just sleep on the couch,” he explained, reminding himself that sleeping in the same bed as Clarke was absolutely not a good idea.

“You need a good night’s sleep,” she mumbled, closing her eyes again. God, she was stubborn, even when sleepy.

“So do you.”

“Please.” She didn’t even open her eyes for this plea, but her voice sounded so tired and sad that Bellamy could feel his chest ache. He let out a sigh before walking over to the other side of the bed. This was a horrible idea, he kept reminding himself.

“Good night, Clarke,” he whispered, turning on his side to face away from her.

“Good night, Bell,” she whispered back, causing Bellamy’s mind to start racing again. Those words sounded so sweet coming from her lips. He could get used to hearing that every night.

He shook his head, trying to get that thought out of his head. He needed to stop thinking like that. There was no way that he was good enough for someone like Clarke Griffin. He had a long history of treating her horribly. They had hated each other.

He rolled over to his other side, only to be shocked by just how close he was to her. She was on her side facing in his direction, fast asleep already. Her blonde hair was splayed out across her pillow and onto his. A few strands tickled his face as he tried to push it back to her side of the bed without waking her.

Lying in her bed was a horrible, horrible idea.

She looked so calm while sleeping, he noticed, not for the first time. He remembered all those nights he carried her into his bed after the Finn incident. He remembered seeing her sob into Roan’s shoulders for hours, looking completely destroyed. But, once she fell asleep, all the pain that had been dancing across her face disappeared. Tonight was no exception.

He watched her take in a few steady breaths, her chest rising lightly with each breath. She looked beautiful like this, he thought, not that she didn’t look beautiful all the time.

He was wide awake, and was starting to resolve himself to not getting any sleep that night. Wallace couldn’t really blame him, given what happened to Octavia.

There was just no way he could sleep with Clarke just inches away from his face. He wouldn’t even have to reach out far to touch her, he thought, before reminding himself that he didn’t need to risk stirring Clarke.

But, she did have a lot of hair in her face, he observed, deciding that it wouldn’t be weird if he just brushed a few strands out of her face and tucked them behind her ear.

She didn’t stir, and he let out a breath. Bellamy rolled onto his back slowly, not wanting to wake her up. He wasn’t going to get any sleep if he just stared at Clarke creepily all night, he reminded himself. Then, he felt Clarke shift and he jerked his head back to look at her. She rolled onto her other side, turning her back to him. Bellamy threw his head back onto the pillow, disappointed that Clarke had moved away from him.

God, this was stupid, he thought. He was just lying in bed with Clarke and freaking out about every little thing she did in her sleep. He let out a quiet groan, careful not to disturb her.

He went back over the events of the day, reminding himself about the trucks he needed to unload in the morning. He also needed to make a few calls about his apartment for the fall. He continued making his to-do list until Clarke completely left his mind.

Then, she rolled over again. Not onto her side like before. Onto her stomach, effectively invading Bellamy’s side of the bed. His eyes widened as she threw her arm across his chest, resting her head right above his shoulder. Bellamy forced himself to take a deep breath, as he gently tried to pick up her arm. How the fuck was he supposed to move her back to her side of the bed without waking her up?

He had done so good trying to get her out of his head… but now he was struck with one overwhelming thought: he wanted to hold her.

He shook his head again, trying to gently nudge her back over to the other side of the bed.

“Damnit, Clarke,” he whispered, as she refused to budge. Typical Clarke Griffin. Stubborn as hell, even when unconscious.

“Hmm” she murmured, causing Bellamy to freeze. Fuck. He was waking her up. He didn’t say anything and just watched her to see if her eyes opened. They never did, but he was certain she was slightly awake. Then, she turned onto her side and pulled herself closer to Bellamy, snuggling her head up onto his chest. His heart was pounding. But, Clarke didn’t stir anymore.

She must have snuggled up to him in a half-awake, barely conscious sort of way, he decided. He let out a breath, before freeing his left arm from under Clarke. There was no way he was going to get her off without waking her up.

He closed his eyes and rested his head on top of hers. He wrapped his newly freed arm around Clarke, rubbing tiny circles into her back.

He was so fucked, he thought to himself. He wasn’t falling for Clarke. He kept saying that in his head over and over again.

No, he wasn’t falling for her. He had already fallen. And that scared the shit out of him.


	23. Just Friends, My Ass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter! I love me some pining Bellamy.
> 
> So, based on the feedback you guys gave me, I think I'm gonna go ahead and throw in some smut. Don't worry, I will up the rating accordingly and modify the tags. Also, I'll give you guys a warning in the notes before the chapter. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys like this update. It's short, but the non-Clarke non-Bellamy POVs usually are. I'm curious about how you guys like it, so let me know! Love you guys! Thank you for all the feedback I've gotten so far!

Things were sort of getting back to normal at Medici Magic, at least as far as Roan was concerned. Mainly, he was grateful that Lincoln was back in the arena. If Roan had to work in there one more day, he would have murdered Bellamy.

It had been so long since the two of them had to work so closely together that Roan had forgotten just how much he wanted to punch Bellamy. He ran that arena like a tight ship, but if you ever disagreed with him, you might as well just start digging your own grave. And Roan disagreed with him a lot.

He was happy to be back at the archery station and out of the spotlight. He had a little bit more downtime, since it wasn’t always crowded. And, he was closer to where Wells worked.

They were only down two people today: Octavia and Clarke. Unfortunately, they were two people they desperately needed. Wallace had been all over the employees, trying to cover as much as possible without them. No one could run the tavern quite like Octavia could, and it showed. Customers had been complaining about slow service or Harper forgetting their order.

And the shows were kind of a disaster without Clarke. Bree did a good job filling in as far as the acting was concerned. It wasn’t like Clarke was the most talented actress and could never be replaced. But, the shows were all starting late and there were slip ups back stage, which were probably Cage’s fault since he insisted on changing up where they put some of the props.

Luckily, that really wasn’t even Roan’s problem. But, it was becoming Wells’ problem… which meant that it was now Roan’s problem.

“Literally none of them could find their own fucking costumes!” he groaned.

“Good God,” Roan replied, trying to seem at least a little bit surprised. But, he wasn’t. He loved Jasper, but that boy was clueless without Clarke helping him out every day.

“Cage is the biggest asshole I’ve ever met!” Wells continued, taking out his phone.

“What’re you doing?”

“Telling Clarke that I never want to do her job again,” he muttered, typing into his phone. Roan snatched the phone out of his hands. “Hey!”

“We agreed not to bother Clarke. You can talk to her if she texts you first, remember?” he reminded his very forgetful boyfriend. God, he loved calling him that. Roan and Wells had dropped Clarke off at the airport last night and made an agreement not to add to her problems this weekend. Work drama could wait until she got back.

“Ugh, I know. It’s just weird not getting to see her at work. Like I normally have had at least one bitch session with her by now.”

“I know the feeling,” Roan replied, grabbing Wells’ hand. Wells leaned into his shoulder while Roan looked around the fair. It was a pretty crowded day, but luckily Wallace had added a few more shows in the arena to make up for how poorly run the theater and tavern were. Regardless, it was going to be a long fucking day.

 

Roan was banging his head against the wall, glaring at the long line of people waiting to try out the bow and arrow. And each one of them had so many questions, he noticed with frustration. He was by no means a people person, but had enough patience to do his job well on a normal day. This was not a normal day.

On a normal day, people were too busy trying to catch all of the shows between the arena and the theater, that they barely made time to stop by the archery station. He would get a few people every now and then, followed by some busy bursts of activity after a show got out… but never anything like this. He had a full line for more than three hours, and it never seemed to get any shorter.

He needed a miracle just so he could get a damn break.

And then, the miracle came in the form of thunder and lightning.  Rain started pouring down as crowds of people frantically started running toward the parking lot.

“Fucking thank you,” Roan muttered to the sky, before starting to pack everything up.

 

Medici Magic didn’t get rained out often, which Roan’s bank account was thankful for. When it did, however, the staff threw a party. Miller and Bellamy went out and got the keg while Jasper “decorated.” And by decorated, he meant getting fun colored solo cups and buying one plastic table cloth.

“There is no way I’m going to be at a party and not play bartender,” Octavia yelled at Bellamy, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. Octavia seemed to be doing a lot better, from what Roan had observed. She still wasn’t good enough to get back to work, but she was well enough to be social.

“You’re not allowed to drink,” Bellamy muttered in frustration.

“I won’t drink! I promise!” she pleaded, and Lincoln shook his head at Bellamy.

“Fine,” Bellamy muttered, earning a frustrated glare from Lincoln.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Wells whispered into Roan’s ear, and he nodded in response. But, not even Bellamy could tell Octavia what to do. When she wanted to do something, she did it. And Roan pitied the idiot who got in her way.

“Let’s do some shots!” Monty screeched, pulling Murphy into the kitchen.

“Please tell me the storm is going to go on through tomorrow,” Miller groaned into his beer.

“Bitch, it might,” Raven said, checking the weather on her phone.

“Yaaaaaas!” Jasper screamed, jumping up and down on the couch. Bellamy started groaning and Miller rolled his eyes. Why the fuck did they agree to host this thing in their apartment?

 

Around 1 am, Wallace finally made the call to close Medici Magic on Sunday, which made the party liven up again. Almost everyone was in the living room playing some drinking game that Jasper was clearly making up as they went along. Roan was sitting at the kitchen table with Wells and Bellamy, pretty drunk, although not as drunk as Wells.

“Why are you giggling?” Roan asked Wells, confused as to what he could find so funny.

“Bellamy,” he whispered, causing Bellamy’s head to snap around.

“What?” Bellamy asked defensively.

“You were literally seething with anger,” Wells teased, causing Bellamy to scowl.

“What are you talking about?” Roan asked, nudging Wells with his shoulder. Wells pointed over to where Cage was sitting. He was in the middle of some story and everyone seemed to be completely invested in whatever he was saying.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bellamy muttered into his drink, narrowing his eyes.

“That’s not the first time someone has caught you glaring at him,” Roan reminded him.

“I just don’t like the guy,” he mumbled, not looking up. Roan rolled his eyes, all too aware of how easily Bellamy makes these snap judgements about people.

“Pretty sure you said the same thing about Clarke.” Bellamy’s eyes shot up to glare at Roan, but he really didn’t care. He was technically right.

“I was wrong about Clarke, but I was right about Finn and about Atom,” he argued, wagging his finger at Roan.

“And you were wrong about Lincoln. So, you’re at about 50% accuracy here,” Roan snapped back, earning a giggle from Wells, before he leaned a little too far into Roan that he practically fell into his lap. Bellamy put his head down on the table.

“I think it’s time for me to get in bed,” Wells mumbled, stumbling out of his seat. Roan got up to help him, but Wells swatted his hands away, like he was trying to prove that he could do this by himself. It was adorable.

Wells stumbled down the hallway, before going into Roan’s room and shutting the door. Roan and Bellamy sat there in silence for a few minutes, just watching the rest of the party start to fizzle out.

“Where did Clarke go this weekend?” Bellamy suddenly asked, catching Roan off guard.

“Haven’t you talked to her?” Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows before shaking his head. “She had to go home for the weekend.”

“She hates it at home,” Bellamy pointed out, narrowing his eyes at Roan as if he didn’t believe him.

“Yeah, I know,” Roan muttered into his drink, hoping that Bellamy would stop asking questions. It wasn’t like Clarke told him he couldn’t say anything to Bellamy… but he still wasn’t sure if she actually wanted him to know.

“So, why would she go home?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” he snapped, slamming his cup onto the table. Bellamy clenched his jaw, and Roan realized he was being a little harsh. “Her mom asked her to come back for the weekend. They were having some special event and her mom needed her there.”

“Clarke wouldn’t go back just because her mom asked her to,” Bellamy argued, and Roan knew the story he was telling wasn’t adding up. Bellamy was right. Clarke hated Alpha Station. Everything about it reminded her of a life that really wasn’t hers anymore. It made her think about her father. Being there forced her to see her mother move on, like nothing even happened. There were very few things that would compel Clarke to go back there.

“Well, she called in a favor from her mom. They made a deal that if she helped Clarke, that Clarke would be there this weekend,” Roan explained as vaguely as he could, knowing that he was getting into dangerous territory here.

“What was the favor?”

“Why are you so curious all of the sudden?” he snapped, a little too defensively. Bellamy just narrowed his eyes further.

“Why are you acting weird?” he snapped back. Roan let out a sigh, weighing whether it would be better or worse to tell Bellamy. Clarke never said that he couldn’t tell Bellamy about this. But, he didn’t know how Bellamy would read into this. “Dude, I won’t tell anyone. Just tell me.” Roan groaned, hoping Clarke wouldn’t hate him for this. He could always blame the beer.

“When Octavia was in the hospital, she might have called in a favor to get you in to see her sooner,” Roan explained, before taking a deep breath. “Apparently, her mom knows someone high up in that hospital. I don’t really know the specifics. But, she agreed to go back for the weekend if her mom called in the favor.”

Bellamy pressed his lips together, looking down at the table. Roan studied him, trying to gage how he was feeling. With Bellamy Blake, you never really knew. “Oh,” was all he said in response.

Eventually, Bellamy looked up at Roan with a wide-eyed expression that Roan could actually understand. Roan imagined he went through a similar train of thought when Clarke first told him about this. Clarke Griffin hasn’t gone back to Alpha Station since her father died a year ago. She refused to ever go back, and was very vocal about her desire to never see that place again. Nothing could have made her go back. Nothing except the Blakes, apparently.

Roan watched Bellamy’s eyebrows furrow as he focused back on the table. He was probably arguing to himself that she did it just for Octavia. And that was ultimately what Clarke said she did it for. But, Roan couldn’t help but notice how Clarke said things like, “Bellamy needed to see her,” or, “he was going to lose his mind if he waited any longer.”

Yes, she was worried about Octavia. But, Bellamy is what pushed her to make the call.

 _Just friends, my ass,_ Roan thought to himself as he finished off his drink.


	24. Sweet Dreams, Idiot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Thanks for all the feedback you've been throwing my way. Here's another update and hopefully I'll get another one up for you guys on Saturday, maybe sooner.

Clarke was standing in the aisle, waiting as patiently as she possibly could for this mother to herd her kids off the plane. The youngest one was refusing to get out of his seat, while her oldest was yanking on her arm. Clarke let out a sigh, leaning against her seat.

She was happy to be back in Tondc and far away from Alpha Station. If this weekend trip taught her anything, it was that there was nothing left for her back there.

Finally, the mom picked up her son and pulled her daughter by the arm toward the exit. Finally, Clarke thought, trying not to be irritated by how long that took.

The Tondc airport wasn’t a huge airport, which was nice. There were a few little shops still open, despite how late it was getting. Clarke stepped onto the escalator that took her down to the baggage claim. As she got closer to the baggage claim, she looked around to see if Roan was there waiting for her, but didn’t see him. He was probably running late, she argued.

Her suitcase was one of the last ones to show up… which of course it was, with the luck she had been having lately. When she went to grab it, someone got in her way.

“Let me help you with that,” Bellamy said, snatching up her bag before she could even get her hand on the handle.

“What are you doing here?” Clarke asked, confused as to what he could be doing at the airport at 10 p.m. on a Sunday.

“Picking you up,” he replied, pulling up the handle of the suitcase and gesturing his head for her to follow.

“Where is Roan?”

“Date night with Wells. Why? Not happy to see my beautiful face?” he asked with a smirk and Clarke wanted to punch him.

“Of course,” she replied, rolling her eyes. She followed him out to the parking deck, where he seemed to be driving Miller’s truck. Oh right, she remembered, he doesn’t have a truck because of the accident. Bellamy left her suitcase by his side of the truck, before jogging over to open her door. Clarke raised an eyebrow at him, confused about when Bellamy Blake turned into a gentleman. She slid in, muttering some kind of thank you, before he shut the door behind her. A minute later, he got in the front seat and started the truck.

For a few minutes, they drove in silence, leaving Clarke alone with her thoughts for just a little too long. She thought about her mom and how quickly she moved on from dad… and that made Clarke sick to her stomach. She hated seeing her mother and Kane together, as if her husband’s death had no effect on her.

“How was your trip?” Bellamy finally asked, earning a groan from Clarke.

“My mom is engaged,” she blurted out, causing Bellamy’s jaw to drop a little. “It’s only been a year.”

“Do you like the guy?”

“I don’t know him,” she muttered, leaning back in her seat.

“I’m sorry,” he replied, turning his head slightly to look at her.

“I never want to go back there,” she said, feeling the tears start to prick in her eyes.

“Then, why did you?” he asked point blank.

“My mom asked me to,” she stuttered out, knowing just how bullshit this sounded. She wouldn’t do anything just because her mother asked her to. She only went back because she owed her. Which, was stupid in of itself. She could have been more patient at the hospital, she realized looking back. Octavia’s injuries were not as bad as they could have been. Clarke really didn’t need to call in that favor. And if she had just sat and thought about it for a moment, she probably wouldn’t have.

But, she didn’t think. She saw Bellamy freaking out in the waiting room and acted rashly. She wanted to make sure Octavia was okay and she wanted Bellamy to stop looking so devastated. So, she called her mom.

“Hmm,” Bellamy answered, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

Clarke slumped back into her seat, turning her head to look out the passenger window. It was drizzling outside, which Clarke kind of liked. She had always liked rainy weather for some reason. Everything just seemed peaceful with rain pouring down.

“Are you okay?” Bellamy asked after they sat in silence for a few minutes. Clarke leaned her head back, trying to convince her tears to stay in her eyes.

“Not really. But, I will be,” she practically whispered. Bellamy pressed his lips together before turning into a McDonald’s parking lot and parking the car. “What are you doing?” Bellamy undid his seatbelt and turned his shoulders toward Clarke.

“Come here,” he ordered, gesturing for Clarke to put her head on his shoulder. She hesitated, reminding herself that the two of them were in a sort of weird place at the moment. They were friends, yes. But, she wasn’t sure if they were still the kind of friends who comforted each other. They were, once, back before that kiss.

Clarke swallowed, trying to get that particular memory out of her head. Bellamy was staring at her, furrowing his eyebrows and studying her closely. She probably looked like a mess, with smeared eyeliner and puffy eyes. She was just so exhausted, from travelling, from anxiety about being around her mother again, from heartbreak over having to be in the place where she lost her father.

So, she buried her face into Bellamy’s chest, telling herself that she deserves to be comforted and that this had nothing to do with her wanting Bellamy to just hold her.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, keeping one hand on her back, while the other one stroked her hair. Clarke relaxed her shoulders and let herself sob into Bellamy’s chest. She tried to take deep breaths, but couldn’t bring herself to calm down.

“I can’t go back there again,” she mumbled, not even lifting her head up. She could feel Bellamy nod in agreement.

“I’m sorry you had to go back home,” he whispered into her ear, still stroking the back of her hair.

“It’s not my home anymore, Bellamy,” she murmured, voice trembling as she said it. She didn’t really have a home anymore. Her home was always their house where her mom was a neat freak and her dad burnt bacon every time he made breakfast. That place didn’t exist anymore now that he was gone.

Bellamy pulled her even closer into him, and Clarke rested her face in the crook of his neck, slowly starting to calm down her tears. “You’re okay,” he whispered, leaning his head on top of hers.

They just sat there like that for a few minutes while Clarke tried to get her breathing under control. This wasn’t the first time she had broken down like this over the weekend. But, it was the first time that she wasn’t alone. She thought back to how she stormed up to her old room after hearing the news, struggling not to hyperventilate. She wanted to call someone, to vent, to cry. She just needed someone.

And as she argued with herself whether or not to hit the call button, she was forced to realize that the person she needed was Bellamy.

She talked herself out of calling him, knowing that everyone at Medici Magic was having a huge party. She didn’t want to ruin his night with her personal drama… especially after the way she had rejected him. She wasn’t sure if he would even be there for her.

Yet, here he was, holding onto her tightly in a McDonald’s parking lot while she sobbed, in the middle of a rainstorm. God, she needed this.

Once her breathing was under control, she pushed herself away, drying her eyes with her sleeve. Bellamy opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then snapped it shut. Then, he leaned in to rub something off Clarke’s face.

“Sorry, you just have some makeup that smeared,” he explained, trying to gently rub the smeared eyeliner off.

“Thank you,” she murmured with a small smile that was probably a little too forced. Bellamy went to put his seatbelt back on, but Clarke grabbed his hand. “Seriously, thank you,” she repeated, staring intensely into his eyes. Bellamy blinked a few times before swallowing, and redirecting his attention to backing out of the parking space.

 

Clarke was thankful for how late it was when she got back. Octavia and Raven were already in bed, which meant she could go until the morning before having to deal with any more questions.

She pulled her suitcase into her room before quietly shutting the door behind her. She could unpack in the morning, she decided, as she kicked off her shoes and pulled off her pants. Then, she unhooked her bra before throwing herself into bed.

Her phone went off and she reached over to check her texts. Wells was checking in to make sure she made it back okay. She let him know that she got back just fine and that she hoped he enjoyed his date night. Then, her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“What did you mean by that last message?” Wells asked, and Clarke groaned.

“I just was hoping you and Roan had fun tonight.”

“I wasn’t with Roan tonight. I went out with Jasper and Monty. Roan was in his apartment all night.” Clarke sat upright in her bed, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Then, why didn’t Roan pick me up from the airport?”

“Bellamy asked if he could.” Clarke felt her chest tighten.

“What? Why?”

“Clarke,” Wells started, letting out a sigh she could barely hear over the phone. “You know why.” Clarke forced herself to take a deep breath.

“It’s not like that anymore.”

“You’re such a liar.” Clarke threw herself back down onto her pillow, groaning.

“Good night, asshole,” she muttered, earning a chuckle from Wells.

“Sweet dreams, idiot,” he snapped back before hanging up the phone. Clarke put her phone on the charger, before closing her eyes.

As she snuggled up on her side, she realized that her t-shirt smelled like Bellamy. Fuck, she thought to herself, wondering how in the hell she was supposed to sleep with that distraction. She was having a hard enough time trying to get him out of her head already, especially with her wondering why he wanted to drive her home so badly.

It couldn’t just be that he was trying to be a good friend. He wouldn’t go to that much effort. Her stomach dropped when she put together that Wells was right. He still wanted her.

She pulled the collar of her shirt up toward her nose, smelling Bellamy’s scent off her shirt. She thought back to how his bed always smelled like this, and how horrified she was the first time she admitted to herself that she liked the smell.

She kept breathing in the smell of her shirt, even though the smell of Bellamy wasn’t very strong. It calmed her down, though. Why did that smell always calm her down?

It must be because every time she had smelled it, she was being held by him, comforted by him, carried into his bed by him after she cried. When she smelled Bellamy, she was feeling safe.

She tossed and turned in her bed for a while, wondering when exactly Bellamy Blake became this safe space in her life. Bellamy Blake… the guy who would scream at her on a daily basis last year. That guy has suddenly become the most consistently caring and compassionate person in Clarke’s life. He was always checking up on her, watching out for her. He fucking went and found her at that art museum, when literally no one else did.

Bellamy was the most stubborn, infuriating person Clarke had ever met. And she couldn’t get him out of her head. Because somehow this person started to care about Clarke, which surprised her. But, it surprised her more to admit that she had begun to care for him. That she had begun to look for him when she walked around at work. That she found herself pumping her friends for information about how Bellamy was doing. That she found herself staying awake at night wondering what it would feel like to be next to him.

As much as she tried to push Bellamy away, she couldn’t get him out of her head. She couldn’t get that kiss out of her head.

Clarke shifted so she could lie on her stomach, turning her head toward her nightstand. She remembered how Bellamy kept repeating that she was okay, as he stroked her hair with a tenderness she wasn’t used to from someone like him. She closed her eyes, trying to pretend he was still there, holding her to make her feel safe. And within minutes, she drifted off to sleep.


	25. It's Not a Guy's Night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this update... it was fun to write. I just love writing Jasper lol.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you guys think. I should have another update for you guys tomorrow! You guys are great. Love ya'll!

Bellamy knew that he should have apologized to Lincoln a long time ago. It had been almost two weeks since the accident… yet Bellamy never got the nerve up to just say he was sorry.

He blamed it mostly on the fact that he never was alone with Lincoln, which probably was not an accident but instead careful planning on Lincoln’s part. If Miller left the arena tent, Lincoln followed quickly after. If Bellamy walked into a room, Lincoln left.

But, another storm came in and Bellamy sprinted into the arena tent where Lincoln was on his phone. And suddenly they were completely alone and Lincoln couldn’t run off. Bellamy could see the wheels turning in Lincoln’s head, as he was clearly trying to find a way out of the situation. Bellamy let out a sigh and sat next to him.

“It’s just a small storm,” Lincoln explained, looking at the weather app on his phone. “It’s supposed to pass really quickly.”

Bellamy grunted in acknowledgement as he looked around the tent. Miller and Murphy weren’t nearby when the storm hit, so they probably weren’t coming.

“You’re avoiding me,” Bellamy blurted out, not able to take the awkward tension in the air.

“Well, you threatened me and clearly hate me,” Lincoln snapped, putting his phone down to look Bellamy directly in the eye with an eyebrow raised.

“I don’t hate you.”

“Bullshit.”

“Lincoln,” Bellamy started, not quite sure where to start.

“Blake, I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life,” Lincoln interrupted. “I don’t really have the patience to deal with your passive aggression or unwarranted hostility. I love your sister and I’ve done nothing but be good to her since we got together. Get the fuck over it.”

Bellamy blinked a few times, shocked by everything that just came out of Lincoln’s mouth. “I’ve been wanting to apologize to you about how I behaved at the hospital.”

“You better throw in how you’ve behaved at work, too,” Lincoln interrupted again, crossing his arms and leaning back.

“I’ve been an ass, okay?” Bellamy let out a sigh as he stood up to start pacing. “Octavia is all that I have left and I don’t exactly trust her to make good decisions about the men in her life. She’s been hurt a lot.”

Lincoln nodded, unfurrowing his eyebrows a bit.

“You and I were decent friends before all this happened. I’m sorry that I treated you like her other boyfriends. I should have known you were different. I should have trusted her. You both deserve better than that.” Lincoln nodded again, seeming to accept this apology. Bellamy let out a breath, still pacing a bit.

“You’re wrong, you know.”

“What?”

“Octavia isn’t all you have left. You have a lot of people here who care about you.” Bellamy raised an eyebrow, trying to understand what Lincoln was getting at. But, he didn’t say anything. He just sat down next to him as they waited in silence for the storm to finish.

 

He and Lincoln quickly fell back into their friendship after the storm, usually grabbing drinks after work together… as if nothing had happened between them. Toward the end of the week, Roan and Miller joined them at the bar.

“I wouldn’t call this a guy’s night,” Roan groaned, staring at his beer.

“We’re all guys and we’re hanging out at a bar together. It’s basically a guy’s night,” Miller argued, not looking up from his phone.

“Hey, lover boy, tell Jackson you’ll text him back later,” Bellamy snapped, earning a glare from Miller.

“Are you assholes trying to have a guy’s night without me?” he heard Jasper scream by the door, followed by him and Monty running up to their table. “Not. Fucking. Okay,” he continued, accentuating each word with a shameful wag of his finger.

“Hi, guys,” Monty said apologetically.

“It’s not a guy’s night!” Roan groaned, smacking his forehead with his palm.

“It’s kind of a guy’s night,” Lincoln argued, smirking into his beer.

“Fuck all of you!” Jasper yelled, and it was becoming clear that Jasper had been pregaming already. “I would never have a guy’s night without inviting you guys!”

“We’re sorry,” Miller said, mock apologetically. Bellamy rolled his eyes.

“You’re buying me a drink,” Jasper said with furrowed eyebrows, pointing his finger at Bellamy.

“Coming on a little strong there, Jasper,” Bellamy teased, playfully punching him in the shoulder. “Not sure you’re my type,” he added with a wink.

“Yeah, you’re not blonde enough,” Miller joked, earning a glare from Bellamy and a laugh from everyone else.

“Buy me a drink and I’ll let you call me princess for the night,” Jasper added with a wink, and Roan keeled over with laughter. Bellamy’s face had to have been bright red from embarrassment. He could feel his face start to burn up.

“You guys done?” he said coolly, crossing his arms.

“We’ll be done when you actually go and get the girl,” Roan explained, still laughing from before. Bellamy put his face in his hands and groaned.

“To be fair, he did try to get the girl,” Miller added in, patting Bellamy on the back.

“Yeah, but he was really stupid about it,” Lincoln replied, earning an eye roll for Bellamy.

“Can we please talk about something else?” he groaned as he tilted his head up.

“Nope. Everyone else at this table is happily coupled up. You’re our exciting single friend,” Roan replied with a smirk.

Bellamy pinched the bridge of his nose. “How the fuck did all of you end up in happy relationships before I did?”

“Well, for starters, none of us stupidly slept with Raven,” Miller said jokingly, but that was just a little too real. Bellamy shot him a glare, but Miller looked toward the door with a concerned look on his face. “Speak of the devil.”

Bellamy looked up to see Raven and Octavia striding in, holding the door open for Clarke and Harper. They were all in dresses and wedges, which reminded Bellamy that it was supposed to be their girl’s night. Clarke was wearing a red strapless dress, that was just a little too tight for Bellamy not to notice.

“Well this night just took an interesting turn,” Monty whispered, and Jasper slapped his arm. Octavia and Raven said something to Clarke, and she looked up, immediately locking eyes with Bellamy, glaring him down.

“What the actual fuck?” she yelled, storming over to their table. “I told you we were having girl’s night here!”

“So? We just stopped by for a drink. You can still have your little girl’s night,” Bellamy teased, but Clarke’s jaw remained clenched.

“You’re having a fucking guy’s night at the bar we were coming to!” Clarke snapped, crossing her arms. The other girls caught up to Clarke, Octavia shooting Bellamy a smirk.

“It’s not a guy’s night!” Roan groaned, banging his head into the table.

“They didn’t even invite me to their guy’s night,” Jasper pouted, as he took Miller’s drink out of his hand. Miller snatched it back, glaring at Jasper.

“We could just go somewhere else,” Raven suggested, putting her hand on Clarke’s shoulder. Clarke’s eyes remained locked with Bellamy’s, unmoving from her pissed off glare.

“Bellamy, can I talk to you?” Clarke asked in a polite, yet simultaneously threatening tone. He couldn’t help but smirk at her, as he stood up.

“You’re talking to me right now, princess,” he said, towering over her, even in those heels. Her jaw clenched again. He could hear whispering going on behind him, probably Jasper, but he didn’t really care. Clarke gripped his wrist and dragged him away from the table.

There were all sorts of giggles and whispers as she drug him away, which Bellamy couldn’t help but smile at. She pulled him to the back of the bar, in the hallway where the bathrooms were.

“You’re an ass,” she finally said, pushing Bellamy in the chest as she pressed her lips together.

“Are you really this mad at me about this?” he said, stepping toward her. She stepped back, until her back hit the wall.

“Yes. I told you that Raven and I just started being friends again and how excited I was for this girl’s night. Your being here could totally ruin that!” she said, looking up at him with a stern look on her face. He knew he should be more mad at her for chewing him out like this, but he couldn’t really focus on that. He was too close to her and his brain was starting to get fuzzy. She had on more makeup than she puts on for work, with that smoky eye thing Octavia was always talking about. Her hair was curled, and God, she smelled so good. All Bellamy wanted to do was stay back here with her and kiss her.

But, he couldn’t do that, as much as he wanted to. He needed her to be the one to decide to kiss him, after what happened on the Fourth of July. He wasn’t about to move too fast and make her uncomfortable.

It wasn’t a matter of if Clarke wanted him. Literally all of their friends had confirmed that. He knew there was something between them. He could feel it, especially right now, as he braced his arm on the wall next to her head, standing just a little too close to her.

He knew Clarke had some kind of feelings for him. But, he also knew that she was fighting them. And his princess was stubborn as hell. So, he had to wait until she was done fighting.

Clarke blinked repeatedly as she looked up at him, noticing how close they were. Bellamy had no intention of making a move on Clarke. But, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give her every opportunity to make a move on him.

“I won’t ruin your girl’s night. I will stay on my side of the bar and won’t go anywhere near you, if you want,” he whispered with a smirk, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

“You’re the worst,” she muttered.

“Do we have a deal?” he asked, stepping back from her and reaching out his hand for them to shake on it. Clarke raised an eyebrow and bit her lip. God, he loved it when she did that.

“Stay on your side of the bar,” she warned as she grabbed his hand to shake it. He gripped her hand tightly, holding onto it just a second longer than he should have, stroking the top of her hand with her thumb.

When he finally let go, Clarke let out a flustered sigh before storming off, gesturing at a table for the girls to move to. Bellamy sauntered back over to the guys who were all laughing their asses off.

“Best. Guy’s. Night. Ever,” Jasper said excitedly.

“This isn’t guy’s night!” Roan yelled.

 

“Just take those damn things off!” Bellamy groaned, tired of Clarke walking so damn slow. The plan of keeping guy’s night and girl’s night separate did not work out, which Clarke was incredibly pissed about. But, Octavia kept coming over to see Lincoln and Harper did the same with Monty. So, it just made sense for everyone to hang out together.

Now, everyone was walking back to the apartments together and every other girl had taken off their wedges… but not Clarke.

“I’m fine!” she snapped, still pissed off at him, it seemed. Everyone else had walked ahead of them, probably because they had been fighting during the entire walk.

“Clarke, I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you if you do not start walking faster,” he warned.

“You’re free to walk ahead of me,” she muttered, gesturing to everyone else who was way ahead of them.

“Take. Them. Off.” Clarke stopped walking and glared at Bellamy. He crossed his arms and glared back.

“Fine,” she grumbled, grabbing onto his arm to keep her balance while she undid the straps of her right shoe. He slipped his arm around her waist to give her better balance. “You’re an ass,” she muttered, as she got the left shoe off.

“But, don’t your feet feel better?”

“Shut up.”

They walked in silence as they caught up to the rest of the group. Jasper was busy talking about what kind of party they should throw once they got to Mt. Weather. Bellamy’s stomach dropped, suddenly reminded that they only had one city left for the summer. He glanced over at Clarke who was whispering something to Raven that made her laugh. He only had a few weeks left before he had to say goodbye to her.

This was something Bellamy had avoided thinking about. He had decided to take a year off before returning to school to get his master’s… but still hadn’t made a plan for how he was going to spend that year. He had thought about just travelling for a bit, taking odd jobs here and there to get by. But, he didn’t really want to be away from his sister. He could go with her to Ark U, and that would put him in the same city as Clarke and Wells, but it would take him away from Miller and Roan.

He liked his summer job… after all he had been doing it all throughout college. But, by this point in the summer he was usually about ready for it to be over. But, this particular goodbye was going to hurt a lot.

“You okay?” Clarke asked, snapping Bellamy out of overthinking too much. She had slowed down to walk in step with him, with a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“You sure? You look upset about something.”

“Just realizing that summer is almost over,” he replied quietly, walking a bit slower so that they could separate from the group a bit more.

“We still have another week here and then all of Mt. Weather. Summer is far from being over,” she said, trying to cheer him up. He forced a smile, but didn’t look back at her.

“Sorry we ruined your girl’s night,” he said with a small smirk.

“Yeah, don’t think I’m not still pissed about that.”

“Oh, I know you’re still pissed. You wouldn’t be Clarke if you just let this go,” he joked, earning a small slap on his arm.

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” he said with a huge grin on his face. Clarke opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but then snapped it shut, changing her mind. What he wouldn’t give to hear what she was secretly thinking.


	26. The Knight Gets the Princess in the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a shorter chapter from Clarke's POV. I'll go back to doing non-Bellarke POVs in a few updates... but stuff is about to go down and I'd like it all to be from either Clarke or Bellamy's POV. 
> 
> The next two chapters should be pretty long, so expect them to take a bit longer for me to write and edit.
> 
> Anyways, thank you guys for all the feedback and please let me know what you think of this update!

The kid show was Clarke’s favorite part of the job. The other performances were fun, but stressful. This was easy and relaxed and funny as hell. Clarke was holding the hand of a girl who couldn’t be older than six. She had volunteered to play the princess, but the tiara kept slipping down her face because it was just a little too big for her head.

“The knight was just about to bow to the princess, when suddenly a dragon appeared!” Cage announced to the audience, signaling them to react in shock.

The little boy who was playing the knight was so confused as he looked around the stage. “I don’t see a dragon!” he yelled at Cage, who was clearly trying to hold back a laugh. This was the hardest part of this show… trying to stay in character when working with the kids who volunteer. They always did and said the funniest things, which made the show really entertaining.

Jasper, in his ridiculous dragon costume, crept up behind the kid before tapping him on the shoulder. The kid’s head turned around slowly, and he promptly wacked Jasper in the side with the foam sword Cage had given him. Clarke bit her lip to try to keep from laughing, and she could see Jasper was doing the same thing.

“Not yet,” Cage whispered to the kid, who just started giggling.

“The dragon captured the princess and took her far away from the noble night,” Clarke announced, as Jasper took the little girl to the side of the stage.

“You’ll never find her now. Muahahaha,” Jasper laughed maniacally before disappearing off stage.

“The knight was devastated,” Cage continued, earning an aww from the audience. The little boy just shrugged his shoulders.

Clarke looked out into the audience, noticing a lot of amused people. She could identify the two kid’s parents based on how they had their cameras up and ready so that they didn’t miss a moment of this. She had to smile at that, thinking about how her father would have been doing the same thing if she was this little girl.

As she continued her survey of the audience, she noticed one familiar, smirking face and completely lost her train of thought. Bellamy was very far away from the stage, closer to the tavern than to her. He was leaning against a tree, watching the performance with interest. He noticed her looking at him… and God he looked so smug. He raised one eyebrow at her, still smirking, and Clarke felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest.

“So, the brave knight decided to go chase after the dragon to get his princess back,” Cage declared, snapping Clarke out of the haze she was just in. That was supposed to be her line, she remembered. Fuck.

 

“Happens to the best of us,” Cage reassured, patting Clarke on the back. She rolled her eyes, mentally making a list of all the times she had to cover his ass on this stage. She only screwed up this one time. Clarke pushed past him to say goodbye to the little girl who played the princess. She crouched down so they could be at eye level.

“You did really great up there,” she said with a smile, and the girl started grinning widely, looking up at her parents excitedly.

“I was so nervous.”

“It didn’t show. You’re a natural actress,” Clarke added, and the girl rushed in for a hug before heading off with her parents. Clarke stood up, brushing her skirt as she looked around. Bellamy was now sitting on the edge of the stage, smirking at her.  

“Shouldn’t you be working?” she groaned.

“Happy to see you too, princess,” he replied, running his fingers through his hair as he spoke. God, he was so distracting. “Having some difficulty remembering your lines, I see.”

Clarke pressed her lips together before crossing her arms. He was such an ass, sometimes. He knew that he had thrown her off, and of course, he had to be so smug about it. “It was one flub,” she muttered, sitting down in the front row.

“It wasn’t noticeable. I only knew because of how many times I’ve watched this one.”

“Yeah, you’ve watched this one a million times. Why were you watching again today?”

“It’s my favorite,” he explained with a shrug. “The kids are cute, you are really sweet with the kids… it’s fun to watch.” Clarke nodded, knowing that this show was almost everyone’s favorite. It wasn’t that the other shows weren’t good… They were just so serious in comparison. Tragedies and comedies that focused too much on war and love. “Plus, the knight gets the princess in the end. You know I’m a sucker for a story like that,” he added in with a playful smirk and Clarke swears she stopped breathing.

He was doing this a lot lately, Clarke noticed. Ever since he picked her up at the airport, he’s been more physically and verbally affectionate toward Clarke. He found the most ridiculous excuses to touch her, to get close to her. He teased her in the flirtiest ways possible. He was constantly hinting at his feelings for her, without ever actually admitting to anything.

It was driving her insane.

“Sorry I threw you off,” he joked, and Clarke couldn’t help but groan.

“You didn’t throw me off.”

“So, you forgetting your line had nothing to do with noticing I was in the audience?” He was grinning like an idiot and Clarke could feel her face start to flush.

“It’s not easy to stay focused when you’re giving me that look!” He tilted his head to look at her, narrowing his eyes but keeping his smile intact. He was staring so intensely at her, she felt like she could melt right there.

“What look?”

“That one!” she snapped, gesturing to his face. He raised an eyebrow, before jumping off the stage to walk over to Clarke.

“I can’t control the face I make when I’m looking at you, Clarke,” he said, voice low, still smirking. Then, he brushed past her in the aisle and walked out of the theater.

She threw her head back, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do about the Bellamy situation. He was trying to get a rise out of her, that much was clear. She could play this game, but wasn’t sure she should. She didn’t really know what it was Bellamy wanted. The summer was starting to come to a close, which means that whatever was going on between them would be over soon anyways. She knows Bellamy has feelings for her… but she doesn’t know just how serious those feelings were.

The Bellamy she has known has always been a player, jumping from girl to girl in the summers. Granted, this summer had been relatively tame for him, especially considering the only girl he hooked up with was Raven and that was just once. But, Clarke couldn’t tell if she was just another summer conquest.

She wants to say that she’s not. If he just wanted to hook up, he would have moved on after Clarke pushed him away. He hasn’t moved on, though. And she hasn’t either.

 

The final week of Tondc was coming to a close, and Clarke couldn’t say she was sad about leaving. It wasn’t her favorite stop on their little tour, and the weather had been terrible. During the week, she had slowly begun to pack up the theater stuff to reduce the amount of work she would have to do during the move out day. She wishes she hadn’t been so proactive, because now that all of the theater people were done packing early, Wallace sent them to help the rest of the fair.

“Tell me why Cage couldn’t be doing this instead,” she groaned, as she and Miller lugged a huge bin across the field.

“Because we don’t like Cage,” Miller said, gesturing his head over to Bellamy who had a scowl on his face and was arguing with Murphy.

“What did Cage ever do to him?” she asked curiously, not recalling that many times that the two of them interacted.

“It’s not something he did. It’s something he wants to do,” Miller explained, giving Clarke a pointed look. She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to understand what that even means. What could Cage want to do that would make Bellamy--- _Oh._

“It’s not like that!” she snapped, a little too loudly, noticing Bellamy snap his head in her direction.

“I’ve watching Bellamy pine after you all summer. Trust me when I say that Cage is doing the same thing,” Miller said, a bit hostile.

“Bellamy does not pine.”

“Oh, God yes he does and I need it to stop,” Miller groaned as he put the bin down and wagged his finger at Clarke.

“Miller!” Bellamy yelled as he stormed over toward them. “Go deal with Murphy. I can’t deal with his shit anymore,” he snapped, gesturing toward the tent the Murphy just stormed into. Miller threw his head back and marched toward the tent. Bellamy went to pick up the side of the bin that Miller had before, and he and Clarke continued lugging it to the truck.

“What’s going on with Murphy?” she asked, and Bellamy shot her a glare. Once they loaded the bin onto the truck, she ducked her head, trying to avoid Bellamy’s harsh expression.

“He’s just being a dick,” he muttered, marching back toward the arena. Clarke jogged to catch up to him. They carried the next few bins and crates in silence, since Bellamy clearly didn’t want to talk about whatever was going on here.

“Is anyone riding with you to Mt. Weather?” he asked suddenly, interrupting their silence.

“No, most people are driving themselves.”

“Well, I don’t have my truck anymore…” he started, and it finally clicked in Clarke’s head.

“You want to ride with me,” she said, not as a question, but as a fact.

“Is that okay? O is riding with Lincoln, and Miller is irritated with me at the moment…”

“Yes, it’s okay,” she said, not confident that was true. It was a seven-hour drive to Mt. Weather, provided there is no traffic. That’s seven hours she would be trapped in her car with Bellamy Blake, the guy she is desperately trying to get out of her head.

“Thank you,” he said, with one hand on her shoulder. He gave her shoulder a little squeeze before letting go to grab the next crate. Clarke let out a breath, trying to figure out how the fuck she was going to get through this drive tomorrow. She looked over at Bellamy, who was pulling up the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off her face… and Clarke couldn’t help but stare at his abs. She must have been staring too long because Bellamy noticed, throwing a smirk in her direction.

“See something you like, princess?”


	27. Watch the Damn Speed Limit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. I wasn't sure I could crank out this long update before the I had to get back to work.
> 
> Anyways, here is a LOT of feels, angst, fluff... you name it. 
> 
> I'll be eagerly awaiting your comments... because I know after this update you guys will have a lot to say lol.
> 
> I love you guys! Thanks for all the feedback! This chapter was so much fun to write and I really hope I did this justice.

“You’re sulking,” Octavia snapped, causing Bellamy to jump, not knowing when exactly she had come over and sat next to him.

“I do not sulk,” he muttered into his drink, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible. It was their last night in Tondc, and Octavia and Raven decided to throw one last party.

“She doesn’t like him, by the way,” Octavia whispered quiet enough that no one but him heard her. Bellamy looked over to where Clarke and Cage were sitting. He never stopped talking, and Clarke was starting to look bored, checking her phone repeatedly.

“I know that.”

“Just reminding you, so you don’t go all jealous almost boyfriend on them,” Octavia teased, with a small grin on her face.

“Not even close to being her boyfriend,” he reminded, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, you need to get on that. I’ve got money riding on this.” Bellamy sat up even straighter, before leaning toward his sister to give her a glare.

“You’re joking.”

“Nope. Jasper predicted last week, I’ve got this week, and Roan’s week starts two days from now. So, now’s the time, big brother,” she said with a smirk, before slapping his back and walking over to Lincoln. Bellamy followed her over there, joining in a conversation with Jasper, Roan, and Harper.

“I hate all of you,” he groaned, and Octavia burst out laughing.

“He found out about the pool,” she explained, and everyone in the little huddle started grinning.

“Do me a favor and keep it in your pants for a few more days,” Roan teased, before getting up to get another drink. Bellamy threw himself on the couch next to Lincoln, who sympathetically patted him on the back.

“I’ve got the very last week of summer, so you can take your time, buddy,” Lincoln teased, and Bellamy groaned again. It was bad enough trying to navigate his relationship with Clarke as it was. It didn’t help having all of his friends getting on to him all the time. He glanced over at Clarke, who made eye contact with him immediately. She pressed her lips together and gave Cage a side glance before looking back at Bellamy with a pleading look on her face.

Oh good, he thought. He walked over to Cage and Clarke, and Clarke pretended to be surprised to see him. “Hey, Clarke, can you help me carry the rest of the beer from Miller’s truck?” he interrupted, and Cage looked pissed. Clarke jumped up to her feet.

Cage shot Bellamy a glare as the two of them walked away, and Bellamy made sure to put his hand on Clarke’s back as he led her toward the front door. He ignored Roan throwing his hands in the air out of frustration as he walked out of the apartment with Clarke.

As soon as the door was shut, Clarke looked up at him and said, “Was the hand on the back really necessary?”

Bellamy smirked, since he could tell by how worked up her voice sounded that she liked it, and that frustrated her. “Just making sure he knows that he doesn’t have a shot with you,” he smirked, walking ahead of Clarke toward the stairs. Clarke let out a frustrated sigh as she followed him.

“You’re the worst.”

“You should be more grateful to your knight in shining armor who just saved you from what looked like the most boring conversation on earth,” he teased.

“Thank you,” she muttered, and they started to go down the stairs. Once they got down there, they walked across the parking lot toward Miller’s truck, where Bellamy picked up the last case of beer. He put it on the ground before locking the car. Clarke was leaning against the side of the truck, interlocking her fingers and keeping her hands on top of her head. She looked exhausted, he realized. She wasn’t used to doing the amount of lifting that they had done by the arena earlier that day. And now, her roommates were forcing her to host a party, when it looked like she’d much rather be sleeping.

“We don’t have to go right back up, if you don’t want to,” Bellamy suggested, and Clarke blinked a few times at him, before nodding. They walked over to the curb of the sidewalk to sit down.

“Everyone is straight up hammered in there,” Clarke finally said, shaking her head. “Like most of them are driving themselves to Mt. Weather. I don’t get how they’re going to do that hungover.”

Bellamy leaned back on his palms, glancing over at Clarke who was stifling a yawn. “They’re not thinking about tomorrow. They just want to have fun tonight.”

“I liked it better when all the parties were at your apartment. Then, I could just leave the party and go the fuck to sleep,” she joked, and Bellamy started chuckling.

“If you want a quiet place to sleep, you can always crash in my apartment,” he suggested. Then, he noticed how red Clarke’s face turned, and his stomach dropped. “No, that’s not what I meant,” he said too quickly, trying to recover from what it just sounded like he was suggesting.

“No, I know.”

“I wasn’t saying that you could… What I meant was, uh,” he continued, pinching the bridge of his nose, suddenly feeling way too jittery to have a normal conversation with Clarke. “You could go sleep in my apartment while the party was still going on. Like actually sleep.” He was rambling, he realized, feeling his entire face flush.

“Bellamy, it’s okay. I understand what you meant,” Clarke said, trying to keep back a laugh and failing.

“Where the fuck is the beer?” Jasper shouted from upstairs, and Bellamy literally jumped from being startled so much.

“We’re bringing it up now!” Clarke shouted back, giving Bellamy a reassuring pat on his leg. Without thinking, he put his hand on top of hers. Clarke jerked her head up to look at Bellamy with a deer in the headlights look in her eyes, but she didn’t pull her hand away. They stayed like that for a few moments, not talking to each other.

“We should get this upstairs before Jasper gets upset,” Bellamy murmured, standing up to grab the case. Clarke followed him up the stairs in silence, as Bellamy mentally kicked himself for ending the moment they were having.

“Bell!” Octavia shouted when he walked in. He raised an eyebrow, surveying the group of his coworkers who were circled up and clearly playing some kind of game. “Come play truth or dare!”

“Absolutely not,” he grumbled, putting the case on the kitchen counter. That was a dangerous game to play with these people, especially since many of them had no problem meddling with his situation with Clarke. He didn’t need to give them any more opportunities to try and throw them together.

“Clarke?” Wells asked with a smile, and Bellamy turned to look at her. She was pressing her lips together, clearly thinking through if this was a good idea. She probably wouldn’t play, since she was clearly over this party. Plus, she would probably think it was a bad idea for the same reason Bellamy did.

Clarke held up a finger to signal Wells to wait, then walked over to the kitchen counter, grabbed the last bottle of whiskey, poured about a shot’s worth into a red solo cup, and downed it. “Let’s go,” she said, voice a bit hoarse.

Bellamy grabbed her arm to get her attention. She turned around to give him a confused look. “You sure that’s such a great idea?” he asked, and Clarke started smirking.

“I just want to have fun tonight,” she said with a teasing glint to her smile, before pulling her arm away to join their little circle. Octavia raised her eyebrow at Bellamy, as if challenging him to play too. But, if Clarke was playing, there was no way in hell he would join in.

 

Bellamy tried to stay as far away from the game of truth or dare as possible. He sat with Miller and Murphy as they talked about how their college football teams were looking for the fall. He wasn’t really paying attention, as he watched the truth or dare game unfold on the other side of the room. The most entertaining part was when Roan gave a very embarrassed Wells a lap dance, which had everyone cheering.

He couldn’t really hear what all was being said, which was probably for the best. From what he could tell, Clarke had mostly been picking truth, since it didn’t seem like she was doing anything ridiculous enough to be a dare. She was also smiling a lot, which made Bellamy feel a lot better.

“Earth to Blake,” Murphy groaned, grabbing Bellamy’s attention finally.

“What?” he asked, and Miller looked annoyed.

“Did you hear a word I just said?” Miller asked, narrowing his eyebrows at Bellamy. Bellamy shook his head.

Then, he heard Octavia squealing from across the room. He whipped his head back around to see what was going on.

“When was this?” Jasper asked Clarke excitedly, and her face was beet red. Octavia was mouthing “Oh my God” to Harper and everyone was leaning in. Clarke mumbled something and Jasper started jumping up and down.

“I need another drink,” Clarke said, hiding the huge blush on her face as she got up. Jasper and Octavia followed her into the kitchen, asking her a bunch of questions at the same time. Clarke started chugging a beer, seeming to be ignoring their questions. Roan walked over to where Bellamy, Miller, and Murphy were sitting with an amused expression on his face.

“Dude, what just happened?” Murphy asked, and Roan mouthed, “Holy fuck” and shook his head.

“Clarke is a lot of fun when she lets her guard down,” he said into his beer, hiding the huge smile on his face.

“What did they ask her?” Bellamy asked, still watching Clarke try to shoo Octavia and Jasper away.

“You should’ve played the game, and then you would know,” Roan teased, raising an eyebrow at him. “And trust me, Bellamy, you really would have wanted to hear that one.”

“Can I at least know?” Miller asked, nudging Bellamy with his shoulder. Roan leaned in to whisper something in Miller’s ear, and his eyes immediately lit up.

“Oh, come on!” Bellamy groaned, throwing his hands up. Roan side eyed him, as he continued to whisper into Miller’s ear.

“I need more details, Clarke!” Jasper tried to whisper, but basically shouted. Octavia hit him in the arm to signal him to be quiet.

“Nope!” she said, throwing her hands up, as she walked back toward the truth or dare circle. She made eye contact with Bellamy, before blushing again and looking toward the ground.

“Holy shit!” Miller screamed, and Roan immediately shushed him, holding back laughter.

“You gonna tell me?” Bellamy asked Miller, who immediately gave a devious look to Roan.

“Absolutely not. It’s too good,” he smirked.

“Fuck you,” Bellamy groaned, getting up to grab another beer.

 

The party began to die down around one in the morning, which a yawning Bellamy was thankful for. He was helping pick up all the empty cups that had been left around the apartment with Wells, while Lincoln and Raven tried to herd Octavia toward her bed. Clarke was emptying the trash can and putting in another bag, blinking to try and stay awake.

“Go to bed,” Bellamy ordered, earning furrowed eyebrows from Clarke.

“This is my apartment. I’m going to help clean it,” she mumbled as she threw a stack of cups into the trash can.

“You’re exhausted. And drunk. Go to sleep. I’ve got this,” he replied, leaning against the counter.

“I am not drunk,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Want me to test you by making you walk in a straight line?” he joked, and saw Clarke scrunch up her face as she contemplated if she could pass that test.

“Drunk people can still help clean,” she finally said, grabbing the trash out of Bellamy’s hands and throwing it in the trash.

“Are you ever not stubborn?” he asked, frustrated by how difficult Clarke was being. Clarke hit him on the arm before turning around a little too quickly, and started to lose her balance. Bellamy grabbed her by the waist to stabilize her. “Bed. Now,” he ordered, whispering in her ear and pushing her toward her room. She shot him another glare, and he just shook his head as he led her toward her room. All of her stuff was gone and stuffed into a suitcase, except for a change of clothes and her bedding. She sat on the edge of the bed, struggling to take off her shoes. Bellamy leaned down to start unlacing them, since Clarke clearly wasn’t going to be able to do this by herself.

“Thank you,” she muttered, still being stubborn. Bellamy groaned, shaking his head again. This girl was killing him slowly, he thought to himself.

“What did they ask you during truth or dare that made everyone freak out like that?” he finally asked, hoping she was still drunk enough to just blurt it out. Clarke’s face immediately started blushing, and Bellamy pulled off her right shoe, moving on to the left.

“I’d rather not say,” she whispered.

“What could possibly be that bad that you couldn’t tell me?” he asked with a smirk, already figuring out that whatever it was had to do with him.

“There are lots of things I don’t tell you,” she said very seriously all of the sudden, which caught Bellamy off guard. He furrowed his eyebrows as he unlaced the left shoe.

“You can tell me anything,” he replied, just as serious. She shook her head. He pulled off her other shoe and put it down on the ground, standing up to go back to cleaning.

“One day I’ll tell you,” she whispered as he walked out the door. He paused for a moment, turning his head to look back at her. She had thrown herself back on the bed, with an arm over her eyes. He closed the door quietly behind him, shaking his head as he walked past Lincoln and Roan on his way back to the kitchen.

 

Bellamy drove the first two hours of the trip, giving a hungover Clarke a much-needed nap. They hadn’t made it very far before hitting stand-still traffic. Octavia had called to let him know there was a huge wreck up ahead of them, and all the cars were all trying to merge into the right-hand lane. He had moved maybe a quarter of a mile in the past half hour and was starting to get frustrated.

“How long was I asleep?” a sleepy Clarke mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“Hour and a half, maybe two hours,” he replied, stretching his arms forward. “You haven’t missed much except us sitting here for half an hour,” he groaned.

“Fuck,” she said, throwing her head back into the headrest. He glanced over at her, noticing how messy her hair was from curling up in her seat. She leaned down to dig through her bag and pulled out some gummy bears.

“Please tell me you’re going to share,” he teased, and she rolled her eyes. She reached her hand into the bag to pull out a handful of gummy bears.

“Open,” she joked, ready to try and throw one in his mouth.

“Clarke, I am driving,” he reminded.

“You are in parked traffic,” she pointed out, and he begrudgingly opened his mouth. She missed on the first two tries, but luckily he caught the gummy bears before they hit the floor of her car. By the third try, she got it in his mouth.

“Took you long enough,” he muttered, putting the car in drive so he could scoot up five feet.

“I needed some practice shots!” she shouted, and he burst out laughing.

“It’s just nice to know that there is something you’re not good at.” Clarke smacked his arm playfully, before leaning back in her seat.

“You’re not getting any more gummy bears now,” she mumbled, crossing her arms.

“You’re breaking my heart, princess,” he teased, before immediately feeling bad that he accidentally called her princess again. He was trying his best to kill off that nickname, knowing how much she hated it. But, some habits are hard to kick.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, probably noticing his quick change in facial expression.

“Oh, I just accidentally called you princess again and I know how much you hate that nickname,” he blurted out, not really knowing how else to explain his shift in mood.

“I don’t hate it,” she said quietly, and Bellamy whipped his head around to look at her.

“You don’t?”

“I used to. But, it’s growing on me,” she said with a small smile, and Bellamy held his breath.

“Thank God,” he blurted out. “I’m not sure I can go the rest of my life without accidentally calling you that a million more times.”

 

After they stopped for gas, Clarke took over driving, giving Bellamy a chance to nap. He drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour, occasionally waking up to Clarke being on the phone with her mother or Clarke groaning because of the bad traffic.

When Bellamy finally sat up to wake up, Clarke was pressing her lips together and tapping her fingers across the wheel.

“You’re thinking too loud,” he mumbled, startling Clarke.

“Sorry,” she said, side eyeing him.

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

“Just thinking about some stuff from back home,” she said vaguely, and Bellamy rolled his eyes. She was going to make him drag this out of her.

“Is this about your mom and that guy?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to sit through that wedding?” she snapped, banging her hand on the wheel.

“You don’t have to go,” he replied calmly, knowing that for Clarke that wasn’t really an option. Of course, she was going to go. She was pissed at her mother, but not rash enough to do something that stupid.

“Yes, I do. And I’ll be expected to be on my best behavior,” she grumbled, furrowing her eyebrows.

“So, no giving drunk bitchy toasts?” he joked, trying to ease the tension that was consuming Clarke’s face.

“There’s nothing I could say in that toast that I didn’t say right to my mom’s face when I went back to Alpha Station,” she muttered, which caught Bellamy off guard. He could see Clarke going off on her mother, sure. But, part of him thought that Clarke would try to keep it all inside.

“How badly did you go off on her?”

“I stayed perfectly calm, as I ripped apart every heartless decision she has made since my father died, starting with when she refused to pay for my college unless I switched back to being pre-med and ending with how she was now engaged to a man my father hated just one year after my father died,” she said, voice low.

“She did what?” he snapped, eyes widening.

“You didn’t know that? Yeah, she told me that not one week after he died. Then, I came to Medici Magic since I needed to get a job if I wanted to say in school,” she explained, gripping the steering wheel.

“That’s fucked up. Yeah, don’t you dare go to her stupid wedding. You don’t owe her shit.”

Clarke shook her head. “She’s my mother.”

“She’s not acting like it. Look, my mom was far from being mother of the year, but she would have never pulled a stunt like that. That’s screwed up.” Clarke glanced over at Bellamy before redirecting her attention to the road.

“You never talk about your mom,” she pointed out, which left Bellamy speechless. He realized she was right, even though it wasn’t intentional on his part. It’s just that when she died, he didn’t have time to be sad and talk about it. He had to get a job. He had to take care of Octavia.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at Clarke who was pressing her lips together again. “Some things hurt to talk about. I’m sure you can understand that.” Clarke nodded, knowingly.

“If you ever wanted to, though, you could. I am a good listener,” she added, before dropping the subject.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes as Bellamy struggled to come up with anything to say to keep the conversation going.

“You could always take me to her wedding. That would probably ruffle some feathers,” he teased, and Clarke burst out laughing.

“She would hate you.”

“What? But I’m so charming,” he joked, earning an even bigger laugh from Clarke. God, her laugh was so beautiful to listen to.

“You have a talent for making terrible first impressions,” she finally teased, and Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows.

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you even remember the day we first met?” Oh, that’s what she was getting at.

“Okay, but to be fair, I was stupid back then. I’m better now.”

“You want me to take you, Bellamy Blake, to a snooty wedding in Alpha Station and somehow expect me to think you wouldn’t put your foot in your mouth during literally every conversation with my mother?” Clarke started cackling after she said this, nearly crying from laughing so hard.

“Hey, I can keep my thoughts to myself for a night!”

“You have literally never done that in the year that I’ve known you,” she said, shaking her head and smiling.

“I’m getting offended, princess.”

“Look, you have many talents. But, making a good first impression is not one of them.”

He threw his head back into the headrest. “I can’t win with you,” he teased.

 

Somehow, Bellamy had forgotten about how Clarke tended to talk in her sleep. He was driving again, giving Clarke another opportunity to nap, which she reluctantly accepted. She was curled up in her seat, resting her head on the console, covered in two of the three blankets she had packed. Bellamy had to be careful not to accidentally elbow Clarke in the face by the way she was lying down.

A lot was going through his mind on this drive. And almost all of his thoughts were in some way about Clarke.

He was floored by what Clarke had told him about her mother, trying to understand how anyone could be that cold to their children, trying to understand how Clarke still even spoke to the woman. That didn’t make any sense to him, knowing all too well how Clarke could hold a grudge.

He was also amazed that Clarke had straight up lied to him last week when he asked why she went home in the first place. He had expected her to just admit that she pulled some strings to get him in to see Octavia. It wasn’t like Clarke to hide things like that. She’ll bury her feelings deep down, but for the most part is very forthcoming about everything else. He wanted her to tell him so that he could thank her and so he could ask her why she did it. He knew it was probably just because she was worried about Octavia… but still hoped that it also had a lot to do with him. He knew she wouldn’t go back to Alpha Station for just anyone. He wanted to believe that she would be willing to go through with something like that because she cared about him that much.

“Go away,” she mumbled in her sleep, and Bellamy instinctively took his right hand to rub her back, hoping that it would calm her down. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like Clarke was having a bad dream.

He started to think back to the past week, where it seemed like Clarke was actually flirting back with him. He smirked, remembering how flustered she looked on stage when she made eye contact with him. He didn’t want to mess her up… but it was kind of satisfying to know that he could get under her skin like that.

He couldn’t figure out what was holding Clarke back, he thought to himself as he furrowed his eyebrows. It was clear as day that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. If he was being honest, thinking about this was the sole reason he wasn’t getting enough sleep at night. He would stay up, running through each day in his head, looking for signs that would explain why she was staying away.

It wasn’t the Raven thing, at least not anymore. While they hadn’t talked about since that night, other people had and Clarke was very much over it, and apparently understanding of why it happened. He had tried apologizing to Clarke about it, but she always cut him off, saying that it doesn’t bother her.

He let out a sigh, still rubbing Clarke’s back, despite the fact that whatever was bothering her in her sleep was finally leaving her alone.

“Watch the damn speed limit,” Clarke suddenly groaned, catching Bellamy completely off guard.

“You’re awake?” he asked, starting to hit the brakes a bit, noticing that he was going 90 mph.

“Yeah, I’ve been awake for a little while now,” she grumbled, and Bellamy realized that he still had his hand on her back. She didn’t pull away or say anything, so he kept it there.

 

They only had about half an hour left on their trip when they stopped for gas. Unfortunately, there was no cover over the pumps, which wouldn’t have been a problem if it didn’t start pouring down rain as soon as Clarke left the car to go to the bathroom. Bellamy quickly filled up the tank before climbing in the passenger side, suddenly soaked from the rain. He decided to call Octavia, to see where they were.

“What do you want?” she answered, and Bellamy could hear Lincoln laugh through the phone.

“Just checking in. How is your drive going?”

“We stopped for a long lunch so we are way behind,” she explained with a groan.

“Okay, well we are about half an hour from Mt. Weather.”

“Oooh. You guys might get there first. That would give you and Clarke plenty of time to bang before everyone else caught up,” she teased, and Bellamy started groaning.

“You’re lucky she’s not in the car.”

“Oh, please. I texted her that exact same thing like an hour ago.”

“Octavia,” he warned, feeling his face start to get red.

“Please tell me you guys have had some kind of feelings talk in the past eight hours that you’ve been driving,” she groaned, and Lincoln was laughing again.

“It’s hard to---“

“Are you fucking kidding me? You have three weeks left with this girl and you’re wasting this opportunity? You’re a fucking idiot!” she yelled, causing Bellamy to pull the phone away from his ear just so it didn’t damage his hearing.

“I’m waiting for her to be ready,” he told her, repeating what he told her every time they had this discussion.

“Well, she’s not going to be ready until she figures out that she’s not just another one of your summer flings,” Lincoln shouted into the phone and Octavia screamed “Thank you!”

“Clarke knows that she’s not.”

“How the fuck would she know that? Have you told her that?” Bellamy leaned back in his seat, trying to recall if he and Clarke had ever actually had that conversation. He had assumed that she knew that. That she would figure out that he wouldn’t try this hard for a fling. That he was doing everything he could to show her that he cared about her without having to say the words.

Then, he saw Clarke start to sprint toward her car. “Gotta go, O,” he muttered before hanging up the phone. She slid into the driver’s seat and slammed the door, absolutely soaked.

“Lovely weather we’re having,” she finally joked, and Bellamy swallowed, nodding his head like an idiot.

 

They weren’t the first of their coworkers to get to their new apartments. Murphy’s car was in the parking lot along with Harper’s. It was still pouring down rain as Bellamy and Clarke sprinted into the main lobby to get their keys. The manager went into the backroom to verify their ID’s and to grab the packets that had their keys, schedules for trash pickup, and their mail key.

They were standing awkwardly in the lobby, both absolutely soaked from the weather.

“I am not looking forward to unpacking my car in this weather,” Clarke groaned, crossing her arms and shivering.

“The storm should pass soon. We could just wait to unpack it until then,” he suggested.

“Jasper better not suggest throwing a party once he gets here.”

“Not in the mood for another wild and crazy night?” he teased. Clarke glared at him.

 

They sprinted back to her car once they got their keys, needing to drive to the other side of the apartment complex where their apartments were located. As they passed their friends’ cars in the parking lot, they started to make a list of everyone who was already there.

“Oh, I guess Raven didn’t get as early of a start as I thought,” Clarke observed, as she pulled the car into park. Bellamy let out a breath, thinking about what Octavia had said to him earlier. He needed to have this conversation with Clarke, and he wasn’t sure when he was going to get another day like today to do it. He didn’t get a lot of alone time with Clarke anymore, and it could be another week before he got a chance like this. He wasn’t sure he could wait that long.

“About Raven,” he started, and Clarke immediately put her hand up.

“Bellamy, I’ve already told you I don’t care about the Raven thing.” She undid her seat belt, not even looking at Bellamy.

“That’s not… never mind. What I was trying to say was that I feel like you see me as the kind of guy that just hooks up with random people.” Clarke’s head snapped up, furrowing her eyebrows at him and tilting her head. She looked so confused as to where Bellamy was going with this. “Which, was the case with Raven, and Bree, and Roma,” he continued.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, turning fully to look at him. He let out a breath, trying to get his thoughts together. This was not going as well as he had been mentally planning for the last half hour.

“I don’t do this very often,” he tried to explain, not really finding the right words. Fuck, this sounded so much better in his head.

“Bellamy,” she started to interrupt, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Please, Clarke, let me just say this,” he sighed, closing his eyes briefly. “I don’t, uh, let many people in. I say the wrong thing a lot and make horrible first impressions. It’s much easier for me to have casual relationships, because it’s easier to distance myself from someone that way,” he explained, probably using his hands too much. He wasn’t looking Clarke in the eye… actually he was straight up avoiding looking at her. He was terrified of what her face might look like, wondering if she was going to reject him or fight with him. He never wanted to fight with her like they did on the Fourth of July ever again. That night ripped his heart out. Clarke was all too capable of breaking his already fragile heart, and that scared the shit out of him.

“Bellamy, what are you trying to say?” she practically whispered, forcing him to finally look up at her. Her eyes were wide, as she studied his face. He wondered if she could hear his heart pounding over the sound of the pouring rain on her car.

“I need you to know that I, uh, fuck,” he struggled, trying to get this as concise and straightforward as possible. “I don’t want you to think that is what I want with you,” he finally spat out, not entirely sure if that made any sense at all. His thoughts were crowding his brain, making it really hard to think straight. He slammed his eyes shut, probably scrunching up his entire face as he tried to collect his thoughts. “With you, I wanted to, uh,” he started again, shaking his head because even this wasn’t right. Fuck, even when he practiced in his head, he couldn’t get this damn thing right. “I’m sorry,” he finally said, “I’m not making any sense.”

“Bellamy,” Clarke started, and Bellamy closed his eyes again.

“No, I practiced this. I wanted to get this right,” he groaned in frustration. “You’re too important to me for me to fuck this up,” he muttered, keeping his eyes slammed shut. He needed his brain to calm down so he could just get his thoughts together. But, he was so overwhelmed by the concerned look on Clarke’s face, the way she smelled like her despite being completely drowned by the rain, the tender way she kept saying his name. She was everything to him, and he was fucking this all up, and his brain wouldn’t stop screaming at him about it. He needed Clarke. He couldn’t sleep at night because of Clarke. His brain wouldn’t have a moment’s peace until he laid it all out there for her. He needed to just tell her that---

He suddenly felt her lips crash into his, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck to pull him toward her. His eyes jerked open, confused as to how this happened. She had leaned over the console, practically all the way over on his side of the car. He closed his eyes again, struck by how soft her lips were, even as they bruised his lips. He kissed her back slowly and deliberately, trying to memorize this moment.

Then, Clarke pulled back, and Bellamy’s brain started panicking all over again.

“I’m so sorry,” she said frantically, putting her hand over her lips. “I shouldn’t have, uh, before I knew it was okay to---“ she stuttered before Bellamy interrupted her by grabbing her face and pulling her back to him, crashing his lips back into hers. He could feel her melt back into him, as she opened her mouth slightly, letting him in to deepen the kiss as he moaned into her mouth.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Clarke pulled away again. This time, she crawled over to his side of the car, probably tired of that damn console getting in their way. She banged her head on the roof of the car as she straddled his legs.

“You okay?” he asked, rubbing her head where she hit it with one hand, and holding her waist with the other. She nodded frantically, pulling her chest closer to his, resting her forehead against his. He tilted his head and pulled her closer to him, feeling her lips brush against his before pressing into him all the way. This time, she moaned into his mouth, her tongue reaching out to meet his. His hands were running up her back, pulling her in as tightly as he possibly could.

Her fingers were running through his wet hair, and God it felt so good.

“Clarke,” he whispered after pulling away, pressing his forehead against hers. Her eyes were closed, as her hands still cupped his face. “Please, don’t pull away from me again,” he begged, surprised by how painful that sounded. He knew that it broke her heart, but he didn’t realize until this moment how much he had been aching for her since that night. Her eyes flickered open.

“Bellamy, I---“

“I need you,” he interrupted, caught off guard by how choked up he sounded. Clarke’s eyes widened, before she went in to kiss his cheek softly.

Then, she moved her lips toward his ear as she whispered, “I need you too.” And Bellamy could feel his heart try to pound itself out of his chest.

He struck by how quiet her car was, before he looked out the window. “It stopped raining,” he observed, and Clarke leaned back to look for herself.

“I guess waiting it out worked,” she said with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up... the smut is coming next update. Just so you know.


	28. Constant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the smut!
> 
> So, this chapter is mostly smutty. If that's not your thing, I'm sorry. There really isn't any plot in this chapter so you could easily skip it. 
> 
> Anyway, it took me so long to post this because I've been really nervous about it. This is my first time writing smut and I'm not so sure I'm good at it. Regardless, I tried lol.
> 
> So, let me know what you think. Love you guys. Thank you for all the support you've given me!

“What do you mean there was an elevator?” Bellamy shouted at Miller, as Clarke lugged his last bag into his bedroom.

“It was literally on the other side of the wall. Why the fuck didn’t you check for an elevator?” Miller snapped back. Clarke rolled her eyes, also kind of pissed about all of the things she and Bellamy hauled up from her car without using the damn elevator.

She pulled the last bag into his closet, not entirely sure where he would want it. She could hear Miller and Bellamy continue their talk in the other room, but she sat on the edge of Bellamy’s bed to take a breath.

She was having an interesting day, to say the least. She went through the events of the evening again, remembering how she kissed Bellamy, and how he kissed her, and how she might have been a little too aggressive in the car.

She heard the front door open again, and a few more voices. She closed her eyes, trying to figure out how she got to this place. One year ago, she was hiding out in her bedroom sobbing, trying to let go of her old life and move on. And now, she was actually living her life again.

“What elevator?” she heard Roan screech, before hearing the sound of him throwing his bag on the floor. She walked back into the living room.

Roan was leaning against the wall, head tilted toward the ceiling, trying to catch his breath.

“Clarke, did you know there was an elevator?” he asked, and Clarke shook her head.

“Miller only thought to tell us about the elevator after we carried all of our shit up the stairs,” Bellamy grunted, smacking Miller in the back of the head.

“Not my fault you idiots can’t read signs,” he grumbled, before turning around to go to his room. Roan stood up too, moving toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Clarke asked, since he literally just walked in the door.

“Wells just texted me asking if I would help him make his bed, and I responded with a winky face… so, I’ve got to get on that,” Roan said very seriously, before adding a wink at the end. Bellamy groaned, throwing his head back, as Roan laughed and walked out the door.

“Good. I thought they’d never leave,” Bellamy whispered, pulling Clarke in by the waist. Her back was pressed up against his chest as he kept one hand pressing her hips against him, using the other hand to grab her hand.

“Miller is still here,” Clarke reminded him, earning a small groan right in her ear. He kissed her cheek quickly.

“You’re no fun,” he teased, before pulling her by the hand toward his room.

“I can be fun,” she snapped, as he quietly shut the door behind her.

“Prove it. Help me find where I packed my sheets,” he teased, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

“How do you not remember what bag you packed them in?” she groaned, as she started to unzip his big suitcase.

“Well, I was a little flustered this morning, if you didn’t notice,” he answered, stopping to give Clarke a stern glare. “And you did not help,” he added with a teasing grin.

“What did I do?” she asked, confused as to what she could have done this morning to mess him up.

“Do you have any idea how stressed I was about being in a car with you all day?” he explained, throwing his clothes out of another bag, searching for his sheets. Clarke felt a smirk take over her face as she sat on Bellamy’s mattress, leaning back on her hands.

“What could be stressful about that?” she teased, and Bellamy’s head snapped up to look at her. He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, for starters, you slam your brakes,” he started, keeping a teasing tone. “And you don’t always signal when you switch lanes.” He finally pulled out his folded sheets and threw them onto the mattress next to Clarke.

“Oh, so this is only about my driving.” Bellamy stood up and walked over to her. He put his hand on the mattress next to Clarke’s hips, not touching her. Then, he leaned in to whisper into her ear.

“Yeah, princess. Just your driving,” he whispered with a smirk, before reaching across her to grab the sheets and stood up. Clarke let out a breath she wasn’t aware she had been holding, as Bellamy unfolded the fitted sheet. “You gonna help me?” he asked, as if nothing just happened.

“Fuck you,” she groaned, standing up off the mattress.

“Okay, but let’s make my bed first,” he teased with a wink, and Clarke rolled her eyes, grabbing one end of the sheet from him.

“You’re worse than Roan,” she groaned, thinking about all the cheesy innuendos he dropped when talking about Wells. She took the top half of the mattress, trying to pull the sheet all the way over it.

“No one is worse than Roan,” Bellamy muttered, sounding a bit out of breath as he pulled the bottom half of the fitted sheet over the mattress.

Then, they moved onto making the rest of the bed, and Clarke tried not to throw pillows at him as he listed off all the ways Roan was worse than him.

“Like he literally used that pick up line… and it fucking worked! I couldn’t pull that shit off, and I’m charming as hell,” he ranted, stuffing the pillow into the pillowcase.

“Charming as hell?” Clarke questioned, leaning back against the wall with a raised eyebrow. Bellamy threw the pillow onto the bed and smirked at her.

“You saying I’m not charming, princess?” Clarke tried to suppress her smirk by pressing her lips tight together.

“It’s not one of the first words I would use to describe you…” she teased, and he slowly started to walk over to her.

“And what words would you use instead?” he asked, now just two feet away from her. His mouth was turned upward in a smirk, but his eyes were intensely focused. Clarke looked down, and Bellamy used this opportunity to close the gap between them, placing his hand on the wall next to Clarke’s head. Clarke looked back at up at him to meet his intense, brown eyes.

“Cocky,” she teased, and Bellamy immediately pressed his body up against hers.

“Try again,” he whispered into her ear, and she could feel his smirk pressed into her neck. She thought again, wondering how she could describe Bellamy Blake in one adjective.

“Infuriating,” she teased again, causing Bellamy to groan, before putting his other hand on her waist.

“Come on,” he whispered again, before lightly kissing her just below her ear. She wanted to say bossy, but thought better of it.

“Assertive.” It was kind of like bossy… but like a nicer way of saying it. Bellamy tilted his head back away from Clarke to narrow his eyes at her.

“Clarke,” he started, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Passionate,” she interrupted, and he leaned in for a kiss, sucking on her bottom lip. She let out a giggle, which surprised her. She never giggled. He started laughing in response, snaking his arm all the way around her waist.

“Constant,” he finally said, which confused Clarke.

“What?”

“The word I’d use for you,” he explained, leaning back again so he could look her in the eye.

“Constant?” she asked, not sure what he meant by that.

“You’re just, uh, always there. I can depend on you to help me when I need you or to just be there,” he explained, starting to blush a little. Constant, Clarke thought, she could be okay with that. She stood up on her toes and pulled him down by the collar toward her lips.

It was a messy kiss, too much teeth, probably because she was struggling to keep her smile calm. She pushed herself off the wall and started walking them toward his bed.

“Clarke---“ Bellamy started to say before falling backward onto the bed. Clarke climbed on top of him, straddling his lap and leaning down to kiss him. His arms came up quickly to pull her in by the waist. “Now, who is being assertive?” he mumbled against her lips, and Clarke scrunched up her nose in response. She sat up, playfully glaring at him.

“You’re right. Maybe I should just leave,” she teased, starting to get up. Bellamy immediately flipped her onto her back, before crushing her lips with his.

“Don’t you dare,” he murmured, kissing down her neck. Clarke sucked in a breath, involuntarily arching her back. He pulled the collar of her shirt down slightly, as he sucked on her clavicle.

“Bellamy,” she whispered, tracing the muscles of his back with her fingertips. He glanced up from her neck, smiling slightly. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him up to meet her lips. He cupped her face, keeping his thumb beneath her chin, before opening his mouth slightly, letting her tongue finally find his.

His other hand had found its way to the hem of her shirt, slowly hiking it up as he ran his fingers across her side. He shifted off of Clarke toward her side, keeping one leg in between hers, bracing his arm next to her head for support. His hand finally reached the underside of her bra, and Clarke held in a breath.

“Easy, princess,” he whispered against her lips, smirking because he knew exactly what he was doing to her. Everywhere he touched simultaneously gave her chills and made her feel like she was on fire. She felt herself squeezing his leg between her thighs, grinding slightly on him.

He slid his hand from her bra, to her lower back, turning her onto her side. She threw her arms around his neck immediately, pressing every inch of herself onto him. He groaned into her mouth, gripping onto her back as tightly as he possibly could.

Clarke slid her hand from behind his neck, down his chest. She took a little more time than she’d like to admit feeling his abs through his shirt, remembering all the times she would accidentally catch him changing his shirt in the arena tent, all sweaty from a joust or duel. She would always lose her train of thought, wondering how it could possibly be fair that Bellamy had a body that looked like that. And now, her fingertips were tracing over that body, just like her mind had been fantasizing about.

She let her hand slip farther down his body, lightly tracing the growing bulge in his pants, earning a few small moans from Bellamy. She unbuttoned the top of his pants, only to be stopped when Bellamy gripped her wrist. She looked into his eyes as innocently as possible, as he bit his lip, studying her face.

He pulled her up into his lap, sitting himself up, still focused on Clarke’s face. “Not yet,” he whispered with a smirk, gripping the hem of her shirt before lifting it up off of her. Clarke immediately reached behind herself to unhook her bra, letting it fall from her shoulders onto Bellamy’s lap, and his smirk immediately dropped from his face.

He sat there for a second, staring at her breasts, jaw slightly open.

“See something you like?” Clarke teased, running her fingers through his curly hair, amazed at how soft it was.

Bellamy blinked a few times before looking Clarke in the eye, seeming to be completely lost in thought. “You’re so beautiful, Clarke,” he said, voice low, as his hands slid up her back. Clarke felt her face turn red, suddenly aware of how open and exposed she was in front of Bellamy. She felt shy, under his intense gaze of appreciation. She could feel her heart start to pound as she processed that Bellamy Blake just called her beautiful.

Before her mind could catch up, his lips were all over her right breast, pressing chaste little kisses all around her nipple. She leaned back involuntarily, grateful that he had such a tight grip on her back to keep her steady, as his lips finally approached her nipple. She gripped onto his shoulder, throwing her head back as his tongue traced back and forth over the top of her nipple, before he kissed his way across her chest to start sucking on the other one.

She wrapped her legs around him, gripping onto his muscular shoulders for support. He let one of his hands leave her back to gently massage the breast that his lips were not consuming at the moment, sending chills up her spine with every soft squeeze.

“So beautiful,” he murmured into her skin, and Clarke felt her face flush again at that word. _Beautiful._

He said it about her as if he had said it a million times. As if it were a synonym for Clarke. And just the sound of the word made Clarke melt.

“Bell,” she whispered, forcing him to look up from her breasts. His lips were bright red, bruised from the kisses, but his eyes were so intensely focused. He pressed his lips against hers softly, causing Clarke to actually whimper in response. His hands reached under her thighs, picking her up as he stood up from his bed.

He turned around before lightly placing Clarke onto her back and pulling away from her. Clarke whimpered again, suddenly feeling so cold from the loss of contact. He smiled gently at her, as he took off his shirt. She stared at him for a moment, taking in the sight of Bellamy without a shirt. She had seen this a hundred times, she reminded herself, hoping she wasn’t actually licking her lips in response. But, this was the first time that she felt comfortable enough to just stare at him like this.

He smirked at her, before settling himself down next to her on the bed. She leaned up to kiss him, as she felt his hand trail down her stomach toward her shorts. He sucked on her bottom lip, as he undid the top button and unzipped her shorts. He traced the elastic of her panties as he pulled back from the kiss, studying her face to look for any objections, she thought.

“Bellamy, please,” she begged, tilting her hips up involuntarily. He buried his face next to hers, slowly running his tongue along the side of her ear. He slowly dipped his hand into her panties, inching his fingers closer and closer toward her clit.

“Clarke,” he moaned into her ear, before returning to kissing her ear. He finally reached her throbbing clit, and began rubbing it slowly. Her shorts were still too tight for him to really be able to give her the friction she needed, she realized with frustration.

“Take my shorts off,” she ordered, feeling Bellamy press his smirk into her cheek. He slid his hand out of her panties, and started tugging at her shorts, taking off her shorts and panties all at once. She expected Bellamy to lean back down and bury his face in her neck, but he quickly slid off the bed, kneeling on the floor in between her legs. Clarke sucked in a breath as she watched Bellamy study her completely naked body with a devious look on his face. She propped herself up on her elbows, raising an eyebrow at him. He studied her face for a moment, before smirking, as if he had just thought of something he wanted to do to her.

“Clarke, I’m gonna need you to tell me something,” he said, as his fingers gently grazed her clit. Clarke nodded, desperate to get him to start actually touching her again. “What did they ask you during truth or dare last night?” he asked with a huge grin on his face, before sliding his index finger quickly up her slit. Clarke let out an involuntary moan, arching her back.

“Bellamy,” she started, suddenly out of breath as he started quickly rubbing her clit.

“Tell me,” he ordered, as he slowed down his movements again.

“They asked me if I’d ever had a sex dream about you,” she blurted out. “And I said yes,” she moaned, as he thrust one finger into her.

“Is that why they were all freaking out?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Clarke couldn’t even get out the word “no” so she started frantically shaking her head. He pulled his finger completely out of her, raising an eyebrow at her. He was going to get an explanation out of her, Clarke realized… by any means necessary.

“It was more about when I had this dream,” she continued, suddenly overwhelmed by the loss of contact.

“When did you have it?” he asked with a teasing look on his face, slowly tracing her clit with his finger.

“My first week,” she murmured, as he thrust his finger back into her. Bellamy leaned down and kissed her inner thigh, and she could feel him smile into her skin.

“You wanted me that long ago, huh?” he teased, kissing her thigh again, a bit higher than before. Clarke caught her breath and nodded frantically. He pulled his finger out of her and kissed her clit gently, causing Clarke to throw her head back. “Was it just like this?” he whispered, before running his tongue along her slit. Clarke let out a yelp, and Bellamy leaned back again, removing his lips from her wet folds. He climbed onto the bed next to her, pressing two fingers into her, as he rested his head next to hers. “Was it?” he demanded, having a surprisingly arousing effect on Clarke.  She shook her head, trying to stay focused on the two fingers that were diving in and out of her.

“You weren’t this sweet,” she said finally, practically whispering. He leaned in to suck on her neck, still plunging his fingers into her as Clarke involuntarily spread her legs even wider.

“I bet I was super rough,” he murmured into her neck, and Clarke felt chills go up her spine. “Did your dream have my fingers feeling like this?”

“This is better than in my dream,” she murmured, closing her eyes. Bellamy started kissing down her chest to kiss her breasts again.

“Did I call you princess?” he asked, before sucking on her nipple and letting go with a pop. She nodded her head frantically, keeping her eyes closed. “Did you like it when I called you that?” he asked, a little huskily, which Clarke felt jolt down her body all the way to her throbbing clit.

“Yes,” she moaned, before he crashed his lips into hers, his fingers furiously thrusting themselves in and out of her.

“God, princess, you’re so wet for me,” he murmured against her lips, before kissing his way back to her neck. “You’re going to feel so good,” he moaned into her neck, as his thumb started rubbing her clit.

“Bell,” she started, feeling how dry her throat was as she said his name. She was so close, she could feel it.

“I know, baby,” he whispered, thrusting his fingers even faster. She gripped the sheets, as she arched her back more, and Bellamy took the opportunity to suck on her breasts again, running his tongue all along them first. “Please,” he said, looking up from her chest into her eyes. “Come for me,” he almost begged, and those words pushed Clarke over the edge as she started to come, slamming her eyes shut. She whimpered as his fingers continued thrusting in and out of her, and it was too much and too good and she thought she was going to explode.

“Bellamy!” she shouted, as she rode his fingers through her orgasm, until she was only seeing white. She tried to slow her breathing, as she felt her chest rise up and down aggressively.

After a few moments, she blinked a few times, finally seeing Bellamy standing in front of her without his pants on, stroking his large cock. Clarke involuntarily licked her lips and Bellamy let out a guttural growl. “Come here,” she asked, as loudly as her dry throat would allow her. His eyes raked up and down her body, and Clarke suddenly felt all that heat rush back to her face.

“You are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he moaned, as he lied down on top of her, letting Clarke feel his hardness rub against her clit gently. Clarke slid her fingers into his hair, before gripping onto his curls.

“I want you, Bellamy,” she said, not breaking eye contact.

“Fuck,” he groaned, before biting her neck. He reached his hand down to his cock as he slowly placed himself at her slit. He pressed the head of his cock inside of her, watching her face carefully to make sure she wasn’t in any pain. As he pressed himself deeper into her, Clarke adjusted to his size slowly.

He gently pulled himself out before slowly pressing his cock back in, all while gently cupping Clarke’s face. His eyes did not break eye contact with hers, and Clarke was suddenly struck by how beautiful his dark eyes were.

Once he was sure she was comfortable, he started picking up the pace of his thrusts, pushing himself all the way into Clarke. He never broke eye contact with Clarke though, which was turning Clarke on more and more with every second. His gaze was so lustful and sexy and intense… and even possessive. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he wanted her, and she was getting lost in all of it.

“I’ve dreamt about you too,” he whispered, slightly out of breath.

“Tell me about it,” she whispered, feeling him slow down his thrusts.

“It wasn’t like yours,” he said, finally breaking eye contact, to kiss her cheek. “It was just like this,” he continued, as he kissed her neck softly.

“Bellamy,” she pleaded, wanting him to pick up the pace as she ached for more. He pulled out suddenly, before picking up her leg and maneuvering it on top of his shoulder. Then, he thrusted back into her, hitting the spot that made her toes curl and drove her to scratch his back with her nails.

He pounded into her with a ferocity she hadn’t seen yet, as he kept his intense eye contact focused on her face. “I’ve wanted you for so long,” he moaned, as he hit that same spot with each individual thrust.

She threw her head back and closed her eyes, bracing herself for her own eruption. She gripped onto Bellamy’s bicep, as she started moaning, feeling herself fall apart with him inside of her.

He thrust himself into her a few more times, letting her ride out her orgasm, before she felt him come undone inside of her.

As the two of them caught their breath, Bellamy pulled out of her and let her leg down off his shoulder. He panted into her mouth as he kissed her aggressively. It was a messy kiss, too wet, too impatient, as he moaned into her mouth.

He rolled onto his back, pulling Clarke in to rest on him. She pressed her cheek against his chest, still a bit out of breath.

“Why did it take us this long?” she asked, still catching her breath, and she felt Bellamy’s chest erupt from laughter.

“Because I’m a dumbass,” he said, still laughing his ass off. He snaked an arm around her, and Clarke let out a sigh.

“So am I.”

“No, you’re perfect.”


	29. Coincidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, we're starting to reach the end of this fic, which makes me kind of sad. But, I've already started planning the next one and it is going to be soooo different than Medici Magic and Matched. I'm planning on having only a few more updates, not sure on the exact number yet. 
> 
> Anyway, sorry this update took so long. I spent so much time stressing over the last update, that I wasn't really planning this one. So, I had to take my time with it. Let me know what you guys think.
> 
> You guys have been really great and supportive, and I really appreciate the love from the last update since I was so nervous about it. Thank you!

“Dude, I hardly know her,” Raven muttered as she lightly banged her head against the wall. She was sitting in Jasper’s kitchen, watching him unpack.

“You guys are literally always talking to each other though,” Maya pointed out, earning an enthusiastic nod from Jasper. Raven rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, we work together. But, I literally know nothing about her,” Raven groaned, leaning her back against the wall, looking away from the two of them.

“Well, Luna just finished her undergrad, she is going to get a few tattoos once she saves up some more money, and I think she meditates,” Maya listed off, with a huge grin on her face.

“There you go. You should get on that,” Jasper teased as he emptied another box.

“Look, I appreciate what you two are trying to do. But, I’m fine. I don’t need to be set up.” Which was true, she argued to herself. Sure, Raven had been a bit of a mess this summer… but that’s to be expected when you drop everything to be with your long-term boyfriend who is cheating on you. It wasn’t like she wasn’t trying to get back out there… she just needed some time before she wanted to.

“Not a set up,” Maya interrupted, plopping down in the seat next to her. “I’m just telling you that Luna has been asking about you, and Harper thinks it might be something.” Raven rested her head on the counter, trying to process what Jasper and Maya were telling her. Luna was nice, Raven thought. And pretty. But, she wasn’t sure.

“You guys should really lock your door,” Miller groaned as he stumbled into the kitchen.

“Why are you here?” Jasper asked, looking at Raven to see if she invited him. She shook her head. It was supposed to be just the three of them in the apartment.

“Murphy just texted me telling me to get my ass over here,” Miller said coolly, hands in his pockets and looking around.

“Murphy!” Jasper yelled, and Maya rolled her eyes.

“So, back to Luna,” Maya transitioned with a huge grin on her face.

“What?” Murphy yelled back as he jogged into the kitchen. Then, he saw Miller. “You ready?” Miller furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, glancing back at Jasper.

“What are you guys doing?” Jasper asked, crossing his arms, making the same outraged face he made when he thought they were having guy’s night without him.

“Last night, Miller and I made plans to hit up a movie once we got here,” Murphy explained, and Miller looked like he just now remembered that conversation. “Is Bellamy coming?” he added, checking his phone.

“Doubt it,” Miller replied, relaxing more now that he remembered his plans with Murphy. “I just left my apartment and I heard him arguing with Clarke about how he packed or something like that.” Raven rolled her eyes, and she heard Jasper actually groan.

“Ugh, just bang already,” Murphy muttered, grabbing his keys. He and Miller waved goodbye before walking out of the kitchen. Then, Jasper turned around to Raven.

“You know, this is Luna’s first time in Mt. Weather. I bet she’d love it if you showed her around,” he teased, before Raven leaned across the counter to punch him in the arm.

 

As much as Raven hated to admit it, Jasper and Maya were kind of right. Luna was definitely into her… which was not a bad thing at all. Although, Raven discovered this only because Maya suggested that Wallace team up Raven and Luna during the set up. Which she was annoyed about.

“I’m not saying it’s a good book. But, it was popular for a reason. So, it’s important as far as pop culture is concerned that you read it,” Luna argued, putting another box onto the dolly.

“But, a lot of pop culture is kind of garbage. So, I really don’t need to read it,” Raven said, leaning against the truck.

“No, you don’t need to, obviously,” Luna said with a smirk. “But, keeping up on these pop culture trends is still important when it comes to understanding what is going on in the world.”

“Were you a philosophy major or something?”

“Communication Studies,” she replied quickly with a smile. “And I personally find the rise of the supernatural books and TV shows fascinating. I think it’s very representative of our generation’s anxiety about our future.” Raven furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why she had never thought about that.

“Okay, but I’m not reading Twilight,” Raven replied with a smile.

They put the last box on the dolly before Raven started dragging it toward the tented shops. Wells and Roan helped her unload… and she couldn’t help but notice the massive hickey on Roan’s neck.

“Nice work,” she whispered into Wells’ ear, and he literally started giggling.

“He’s so mad at me about it,” he said, still giggling. She looked up and Roan was glaring at them, clenching his jaw.

“Stop gossiping about boys and help me,” he groaned. They unpacked in silence for a few minutes, as Raven kept giving Roan teasing looks. He finally stood up abruptly and turned around. “Hey, Clarke!” he yelled, gesturing for her to come help. Clarke jogged over, before stopping to look at Roan with a teasing look.

“You know, I have concealer for that,” she joked, and Roan threw his arm around her to pull her in and mess up her hair.

“Anyone else got anything to say?” he said, raising his eyebrows at Wells.

“You were asking for it,” Wells said, crossing his arms.

“Oh my God, please tell me more,” Raven teased, nudging Roan in the arm.

“Don’t,” Roan warned, earning a huge grin from Wells as he turned toward Raven.

“Last week, he left a bite mark on my ass. So, he can deal with a little hickey,” Wells said, raising an eyebrow at Roan.

“Little is the understatement of the century,” Clarke teased, poking the hickey with her finger before Roan grabbed her hand and shot her a warning look.

 

Clarke walked back to the truck with Raven, since Luna had to go help Harper in medical. They loaded the next dolly in silence, which Raven didn’t seem to mind. It was the nice thing about her friendship with Clarke. They never felt like they had to talk to be close.

They were lugging the dolly to the theater and Jasper and Cage immediately started helping them unload.

“So, how was your morning with Luna?” Jasper teased, and Raven punched him in the arm again. Clarke raised her eyebrow, but didn’t say anything, which Raven was grateful for.

“You and Maya need to chill out,” Raven warned, before shutting up when Cage walked back over. Clarke put a huge box into his hands and pointed toward where he needed to go put it. He shot her a quizzical look before turning around and doing exactly as she said.

“You’ve got him trained well,” Raven teased, and Jasper started groaning.

“He’s low key terrified of Clarke after she found out how badly he fucked up when she took those days off. She went off on him,” Jasper explained quietly, looking over his shoulder to make sure Cage couldn’t hear them.

“I did not go off on him,” Clarke muttered, shooting a warning look in Jasper’s direction.

“You verbally ripped him apart limb from limb and he has hardly said two words since,” Jasper snapped, before shutting up when Cage came back.

“Hey, Clarke,” Cage said as he strolled up to the three of them. “Can you help me with something?” he asked, gesturing his head toward the back tent. Clarke rolled her eyes and begrudgingly followed him. Once they were out of the tent, she raised an eyebrow at Jasper.

“He’s also kind of in love with her,” Jasper whispered, and Raven slapped his arm without thinking.

“What the fuck?” she snapped, as Jasper rubbed his arm.

“I’m going to need you to stop hitting me,” he muttered. “But, yeah. He’s been flirting with her super intensely. And it kind of stopped after she went off on him… but he’s still like always around her. It’s weird.”

“Is that why Bellamy hates him?” Raven had to ask, now sitting down for this gossip session.

“Umm, yeah. He was like glaring at him that night we threw the party before leaving for Mt. Weather.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t actually have anything to worry about. Like, Clarke likes him. She would never go for someone like Cage.” Jasper let out a sigh, before looking over his shoulder again.

“Okay, Octavia told me that Clarke never came home last night. Is that true?”

“I didn’t hear her come in, but she was there when I got up this morning,” Raven explained, remembering that she stayed up waiting for Clarke but eventually gave up. Octavia had told her that sometimes Clarke disappeared for a while, off sketching or going on walks. Raven didn’t think this was unusual for Clarke.

“You didn’t hear this from me, but I think Clarke hooked up with Cage last night,” Jasper explained, as Rave started shaking her head. “I’m just saying, Clarke and Bellamy spent all day in a car together. There’s no way that Bellamy didn’t say something stupid. And it’s not like Clarke doesn’t do stupid stuff to blow off steam.”

“But, Cage?” Raven whispered skeptically. Jasper leaned in further.

“I am probably wrong. But, here are the facts. One, Cage has been pretty obvious about his feelings toward Clarke. Two, Clarke did not come home last night. Three, I’m pretty sure there was someone in Cage’s room last night based on what all I heard.”

“Holy fuck!” Raven shouted, before Jasper looked up suddenly.

“Murphy!” Jasper shouted, gesturing for him to come over. Murphy looked at them skeptically, before slowly walking over there. “Didn’t Cage have someone over last night?” Murphy clenched his jaw and closed his eyes.

“Yeah, pretty sure it was Clarke too. All I saw was blonde as she left this morning,” Murphy groaned quietly. Raven’s eyes widened as she gripped Jasper’s arm.

“Bellamy is going to freak out,” she said, and Jasper nodded slowly.

 

“She did what?” Octavia yelled, before Lincoln grabbed her shoulder.

“Okay, let’s calm down,” Raven said, purposefully keeping her voice quiet as to not draw attention to this conversation.

“No, I will not calm down! That’s fucking stupid!” she shouted, trying to pull away from Lincoln.

“We don’t even know for sure. Murphy just said the girl was blonde,” Raven said, trying to soothe Octavia, who looked like she was going to go punch Clarke right in the face.

“Is everything okay?” Bellamy asked, jogging up toward Octavia with his brows furrowed. Raven and Lincoln shared a concerned look, and she wondered if she wanted to stay for this conversation.

Octavia started nodding a little too intensely, and Bellamy gave her a skeptical look. “Everything is good,” she said with a very forced smile.

“Tell me,” he ordered, crossing his arms. Octavia shot Raven a pleading look, and she took a deep breath. Lincoln put his face in his hands. Raven definitely should have left the room for this conversation.

“I know that you’re not exactly a big fan of Cage…” Octavia started, looking down at the ground. Raven couldn’t imagine what was going through her head right now, as she struggled to find a way to break the news to Bellamy. He would be absolutely furious and it would turn into a huge fight between him and Clarke… which no one wanted to witness ever again.

“God, what the fuck did he do now?” he snapped, causing all of them to flinch. Octavia looked back at Lincoln, and Raven was struck by how much this conversation must be killing Octavia. She loved her brother and only wanted him to be happy. This would devastate him.

“He slept with Clarke,” Lincoln said calmly, and Bellamy’s jaw clenched.

“When?” he growled, and Octavia swallowed. He was going to lose his shit.

“Last night,” Octavia said timidly. Bellamy looked confused for a half a second, before bursting out laughing.

“What the fuck?” Lincoln muttered, as Bellamy leaned over the counter to try and control his laughter.

“I think you broke him,” Raven suggested, wondering if this was some kind of coping mechanism for him.

“I’m sorry, that’s just so funny,” Bellamy said, still laughing.

“I tell you that Cage screwed Clarke last night, and you start laughing?” Octavia snapped, starting to sound genuinely angry.

“It’s just such a coincidence,” he replied, sitting up and grinning like an idiot.

“Coincidence?” Octavia snapped, slapping Bellamy’s arm.

“Yeah, since that’s exactly what I was doing last night,” he replied with a teasing grin, before leaning back and crossing his arms. The three of them started exchanging confused looks, as they processed what he just said.

Raven started thinking it through, wondering what Bellamy meant when he said he was doing the same thing. Then, it clicked in her head: _It wasn’t Cage that Clarke hooked up with last night._

“Holy fuck!” Raven shouted, while Octavia and Lincoln looked at her with confused glares.

“I’m quite shocked by the news that Cage slept with Clarke, though,” he said with a teasing look in his eye, as he raised an eyebrow at Octavia. “I probably would have noticed him there, since I was with her all night,” he deadpanned, and Octavia started jumping up and down as Lincoln shook his head with a smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me immediately?” she shouted as she threw her arms around his neck.

“I’m not going to tell my little sister about every time I have sex,” he said, still smirking.

“But, it’s Clarke!” she said with a small pout, and Lincoln grabbed a glass to pour out a drink.

“About damn time,” he muttered, as he slid a glass in Raven’s direction.

Then, as if on cue, Clarke walked into the tavern, carrying a box. Everyone turned to look at her and she immediately gave a confused look to Bellamy.

“Hey, princess. I heard a rumor that you banged Cage last night,” Bellamy teased.

“What?” she asked, putting the box on the ground. Raven looked down into her glass, trying not to give her smirk away. Lincoln was doing the same thing… but, Octavia was grinning like an idiot.

“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” Bellamy added, and Octavia slapped him on the arm. Clarke glanced around the room, and Raven avoided making eye contact.

“You told them already, didn’t you?” she snapped, and Octavia ran up to throw her arms around Clarke. She hugged Octavia back, but kept her glare fixed on Bellamy who was still grinning like an idiot.

“Oh, my God!” Octavia shouted suddenly, pulling away from Clarke to look at Lincoln. “I won!”

They all started laughing, before Raven remembered that they hadn’t figured out who Murphy saw that morning. If it wasn’t Clarke, who was it?


	30. You Threatened to Stab Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long! This week was my last week at work and I had so much to get done, on top of getting super emotional about saying goodbye to all my kids (I was a camp counselor) 
> 
> Anyways, here's a Bellamy POV. I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think!
> 
> I'm reaching the end of this fic, but am definitely planning a short little epilogue. 
> 
> Thanks for bearing with me while I crank out these last few chapters.

Bellamy felt incredibly awkward walking into the kitchen this morning, as he tried to ignore the exhausted glare from Roan or the smirk from Miller. He went to pour himself a bowl of cereal, extra careful not to make eye contact with anyone.

“Good morning,” Roan finally groaned, and Miller burst out laughing. Bellamy stood up, running his hand through his hair. Roan was now staring into his cup of coffee.

“Good morning,” Bellamy echoed, before turning to the refrigerator to grab the milk.

“So,” Miller started, before Roan punched him in the arm. He scrunched his nose before smirking again. “Are we not going to talk this morning?”

“One fucking day!” Roan finally yelled, and Miller started laughing so hard he choked on his glass of milk. “You could have waited one more day, or even just a few more hours, and I would have won!”

Bellamy rolled his eyes, before sliding his bowl onto the counter. “Can’t you just be happy for me?”

“I am,” Roan muttered into his cup, pouting just a little bit.

“He would have been happier if he won the pool, though,” Miller added in, earning a groan from Bellamy. Miller chuckled, as he put his plate and glass in the sink, and headed toward his room.

He and Roan sat there in silence for a few moments, as he ate his cereal and Roan finished his coffee. “You done being a grumpy old man?” Bellamy teased, and Roan slammed his cup down onto the counter and rolled his eyes.

“I am happy for you two, I am,” Roan said, but something about how he said it made Bellamy think he was holding something back.

“But?”

“Nothing,” Roan muttered, standing up to put his cup in the sink.

“Roan, what is it?” Bellamy demanded, raising an eyebrow. Roan turned around abruptly, bracing his hands on the counter.

“You are serious about her, right?” he asked, incredibly serious in his glare. This caught Bellamy off guard. Roan had been one of his biggest supporters when it came to Clarke.

“Of course,” Bellamy snapped, feeling his jaw clench just a bit. He forced himself to take a breath, reminding himself that Roan was his friend and it probably wasn’t a great idea to get angry around him.

“This isn’t like your hookups with Bree or Raven?” he accused, and Bellamy gripped the side of the counter.

“You know it’s not,” Bellamy growled. “How the fuck could you ask me that?”

Roan pressed his lips together, glancing toward the hallway for a moment. Then, he glanced back at Bellamy. “I have to with you,” he whispered, narrowing his eyes. “I’ve known you for years, Blake. You’re the master of summer flings.”

“That’s not what I---“

“Clarke cannot be like that for you,” Roan interrupted, still whispering. Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows, trying to understand why Roan was being so quiet all of the sudden. It wasn’t like he would care that Miller could hear them. Then, he remembered that Clarke was still in his bed asleep.

“She’s not,” he replied, making sure to look Roan right in the eye as he said it.

“You better be your best damn self for her, or I swear---“ Roan started.

“I know, you’ll beat the shit out of me. Save the overprotective brother speech. I’ve given it a million times,” Bellamy groaned, smirking a little bit at how protective Roan was over Clarke.

“Not what I was going to say,” Roan said with a smirk. “I was going to say that Clarke would knock you out, followed by Wells, then Lincoln, and probably Octavia. Then, I’d beat the shit out of you.” Bellamy burst out laughing, and Roan crossed his arms. “You know I’m being serious, though.”

“Oh, I know. But, you forgot to add Miller to the list,” he replied with a chuckle.

 

When Bellamy finally finished his breakfast, he strolled back into his room. He still had a while before he had to get ready for work and he usually used this time to get a quick workout in. But, he didn’t really want to leave Clarke, who was still fast asleep in his bed. He let out a sigh, before sliding back into bed.

Clarke was on her side, with her blonde hair all tangled and in her face. He pushed the hair out of her face, and Clarke groaned.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered, before kissing her forehead.

“Hard to when you’re creepily watching me while I sleep,” Clarke muttered, with a hint of a smile forming on her face. She kept her eyes closed, as she snuggled up closer to him.

“It’s not creepy,” he argued, snaking his arm around her, letting her face rest on his chest. “It’s sweet.”

“Mhmm sure,” she muttered, as her arm reached across him, pulling Clarke even closer to him.

“Princess is difficult in the mornings,” Bellamy teased, and Clarke’s head shot up to look up at him. She scrunched her nose up, which made him smile. God, she was so cute when she was like this. He leaned in and kissed her nose, and she playfully hit his shoulder.

“I am not,” she groaned, and Bellamy tilted her head up with his hand.

“Okay,” he gave in, before leaning in again to press a chaste kiss to her lips. She closed her eyes again, lips tugging at the corners into a smile.

“Can we just stay in bed today?” she asked, burying her face into his neck.

“Nope. It’s opening day for Mt. Weather, princess,” he reminded her, now staring at the ceiling. Clarke groaned. Then, he felt her lips on his neck. He closed his eyes involuntarily, as he felt her press wet little kisses all over his neck.

“What were we doing this time last year?” Clarke whispered into his ear, sending chills throughout his body. Bellamy tried to focus on her question and ignore how her breathing on his neck felt. What were they doing on opening day last summer? He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember.

He blinked his eyes open, suddenly remembering what she was referring to. “You threatened to stab me,” he said, raising his eyebrow at her. She sat up abruptly to shoot him a glare.

“After you volunteered me to be that damn magician’s assistant and he almost caught my hair on fire,” she snapped, pushing him on the chest. He sat up, wrapping his arm around her so she couldn’t pull away.

He pressed his forehead up against hers, and her nose was scrunched up again. “You threatened to stab me, Clarke. Like it was a vicious death threat and there were witnesses,” he reminded her.

“My hair was almost on fire,” she repeated, narrowing her eyes at him. “I’m still mad at you about this.” Bellamy wanted to shake his head, knowing that she was never going to let this one go.

“And yet, here you are,” he teased, before kissing her cheek.

“Who would have thought?” she replied, shaking her head.

“Literally everyone we know, apparently,” he joked, before pushing Clarke backwards so that she was on her back. He then crashed his lips into hers, sucking on her bottom lip a little too aggressively. When he pulled his lips away, Clarke’s eyes were closed again and she had a soft smile on her face. He buried his face into her neck, tickled slightly by her hair.

“We should really get up,” Clarke said reluctantly, and Bellamy groaned. He sat up to glance down at her, noticing how she was looking back at him with big eyes and a slight pout. He really didn’t want to get out of bed, especially when she was looking at him like that.

God, she was almost too beautiful, he thought.

 

At this point in the summer, the daily hiccups should be at a minimum. Which, for the arena, was mostly true. He had heard that Wallace wasn’t happy with how unorganized some of the other activities were running. Nothing about the theater, which he was thankful for. Clarke ran a tight ship and he was glad that she wouldn’t be on the receiving end of Wallace’s temper.

He was setting up for the next joust when Miller started staring off into the distance. Bellamy followed his gaze, to see Bree and Cage standing a little too close together.

“When did that become a thing?” he blurted out, trying to rack his brain for any sign that they would couple up. Last time he checked, Cage was still very much obsessed with Clarke.

“Don’t know,” Miller said, still looking over at them. “It’s like looking at an off-brand Clarke and Bellamy. Weird,” he added, before turning around and resuming set up. Bellamy followed him, trying not to pay Cage too much attention. He had nothing to worry about, he reminded himself. He was with Clarke now and Cage never stood a chance anyways.

They finished setting up, and Bree jogged up to them. Miller and he exchanged a look, as if they were silently agreeing not to say anything to her about what they just saw.

“Guys,” she said, with a strange expression on her face. “Cage just told me that this was Medici Magic’s last summer.”

 

He had to take a walk.

He waited until the end of the joust, which he mistakenly lost because he wasn’t focused, to take off. He had at least an hour before he had to be back, which was enough time for him to walk off whatever it was that he was feeling. There was a small hiking trail behind the arena, which he followed without telling anyone. He had taken walks here in previous summers when he would get too worked up. It was his little secret.

He stormed down the path until he got to the fork in the trail that had a bench right next to it. He laid down on the bench, putting his arm over his eyes.

How the fuck could Wallace shut down Medici Magic? His head was spinning with questions, wondering if Wallace was now losing money on this it. But, it had been the busiest summer they had ever had. It just didn’t make any sense.

It wasn’t like Medici Magic was the greatest place on earth. Wallace was kind of an ass. Bellamy was severely underpaid for his work. He spent most of his summer absolutely exhausted and overheated.

But, it was also where he met Roan, Jasper, Wells, and Clarke. It let him see parts of the country he never would have gotten to see otherwise. It let him keep an eye on his sister, and helped them get even closer.

Then, he heard a twig snap. He sat up to see Clarke powerwalking over to him. She was still in costume, wearing that blue dress that Bellamy liked so much with flowers in her hair. She walked over to him with a concerned look on her face.

“There you are,” she said, slightly out of breath.

“How did you find me out here?”

She pressed her lips together, looking behind her before turning back to him. “I remember watching you storm off after that fight with Dax last summer and saw you head in this direction. When I couldn’t find you, I guessed you might be out here,” she explained, and Bellamy realized that Clarke had not only hiked up there to find him, but also probably searched the entirety of the fair first. He reached out to grab her hand, pulling her next to him.

“You heard,” was all he said, shaking his head.

“Are you okay?” she asked, squeezing his hand.

“I just can’t believe this is my last summer here,” he started, stopping only to kiss Clarke’s hand. “Like, I knew it was going to happen eventually. I was going to get a permanent job and stop spending my summers here. But, I thought I had more time,” he said, shaking his head. Clarke leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I know,” she whispered, nuzzling her face into his neck.

“My life has been such a mess. This place was the one thing that was consistent for me. I always came back here,” he continued, feeling the faint sensation of a tear forming in his eye. He took a deep breath.

“Talk to me,” Clarke said, after he had been quiet for too long.

“It’s just that this is where Miller and I became best friends,” he explained. “I met Roan here. I decided I wanted to study history here. I had my first drink here. I met Jasper here.”

“You met me here,” Clarke added in with a smile, and Bellamy suddenly felt a pang in his chest.

“Yeah, I met you here. I fought with you here,” he replied with a smirk. “I became your friend here. I kissed you here. I realized I---“

He stopped himself when he realized how he was going to finish that sentence, completely dropping the smirk from his face. Clarke sat up and looked up at him with concern.

“What?” Clarke said, running her thumb on top of his hand. He shook his head.

“Nothing,” he reassured, looking down at the ground.

“No, you realized you what?”

Bellamy took a deep breath.

 _I realized I loved you here_ , a small voice in the back of his head said, causing Bellamy to feel his chest tighten.

“I don’t know where I was going with that. Sorry, I was rambling,” he quickly said, before pressing a small kiss to her lips.

“Bell,” she started, and he interrupted her by kissing her harder.

Then, he pulled away slightly. “Shh,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers. “Can we just sit like this for a little while?”

She nodded, and he pulled her so that her head rested on his chest. He kissed her forehead, trying to relax the stress that was dancing across her face.

He loves her, he thought to himself. He had never thought those words about Clarke. Or about anyone other than his family.

Bellamy loves Clarke. He was falling in love with her, and he could feel his chest practically pounding out of his chest. But, Clarke was just looking up at him with a confused, wide-eyed look, having no idea what was going on in his mind.

Oh god, he realized. He was going to have to find a way to tell her. And that scared the hell out of him.


	31. Even Your Little Mind Could Understand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, cranked another one out. I'm thinking about doing two more chapters and wrapping this fic up. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for all the feedback, and I hope you guys like this new update. Thank you for all the comments. They're what I reread when I'm struggling to start a new chapter to motivate me. 
> 
> Let me know what you think!

“What the fuck are we all supposed to do next summer?” Octavia groaned, slamming her drink onto the counter. Clarke rolled her eyes.

“We should really get going,” Bellamy reminded her, looking outside the tavern. Medici Magic had closed hours ago, but most of the staff decided to stay behind and hang out in the tavern for a bit.

“What’s Wallace going to do? Not hire me back next summer?” she snapped, as she started pouring another drink. Bellamy shot Clarke a warning look, and she let out a sigh. No one was more upset about Medici Magic closing than the Blakes… but Bellamy was handling it well, she thought.

“No one told Cage that we’re here, right?” Miller asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Clarke shook her head. She had reminded everyone that came into the tavern after closing that this was a big secret and not to tell Cage or Wallace.

She looked around the tavern. Everyone was still in their work uniforms… which was kind of funny. Jasper was literally wearing a jester costume while chugging a rum and coke… and hiccupping, a lot. She was still in her blue dress, although the flowers were starting to fall out of her hair, despite Bellamy trying to help her keep them all in her hair.

“Let’s join another Renaissance fair!” Jasper yelled, and Bellamy started groaning.

“Do you know how hard it would be for all of us to get hired for another fair?” he muttered, taking Clarke’s hand and squeezing it. She leaned her head onto his shoulder, and she could feel him let out a sigh.

“We could still try,” Jasper muttered. “Besides, I always imagined you two nerds would get married a Renaissance fair,” he teased, raising his eyebrow at the two of them.

“Absolutely not,” Bellamy groaned, putting his arm around Clarke’s waist, pulling her back to lean into his chest.

“Maybe it’s on my bucket list to be best man at a Renaissance fair wedding,” Miller joked, and Bellamy threw a wadded-up napkin at him.

“You wouldn’t even be the best man though. Back in the Renaissance, best man really meant best swordsman so that if someone tried to steal the bride, you had someone already there that could fight them,” Clarke said, slightly proud of herself that she knew that. “So, that would make Murphy the best man,” she said with a smirk and Murphy start fist-pumping.

“Nerd,” Bellamy whispered into her ear, and she playfully elbowed him in the stomach. He wrapped both of his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

“Well, then fuck this Renaissance fair wedding idea,” Miller groaned, and Roan started chuckling. Clarke looked around, wondering where Wells was, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Why are we even talking about a wedding?” Bellamy asked.

“Because you two are in love,” Octavia teased, and Clarke felt her stomach drop. She wasn’t entirely sure where her relationship with Bellamy was at the moment. They only had a few weeks left of Medici Magic before they had to go back to the real world. She would go back to school, and Bellamy would go back home. They hadn’t talked about what this really was, especially since it had only been days since they got together.

And they definitely hadn’t said that they loved each other. Octavia had said stuff like this to them before, and Bellamy and Clarke always felt awkward when she did. He never said anything about it though, just looked away or changed the subject quickly. If this were any normal relationship, Clarke would just tell Octavia to shut up or that it’s too early. But, this wasn’t a normal relationship. This was Bellamy. She couldn’t just laugh off people saying they were in love because it was a very real possibility.

“Roan, where is your other half?” Bellamy asked, quickly changing the subject. Clarke let out a breath, not sure what his reaction even meant.

Roan shrugged, before pulling out his phone to text him. Lincoln had come over to pull Octavia aside to talk to her, and Clarke was grateful. She loved Octavia… but she had been exceptionally difficult to be around since Clarke started seeing Bellamy. She was always asking too many questions, pressuring her more and more.

“What if we just opened our own Renaissance fair?” Jasper shouted, apparently ignoring the entire conversation that had been going on.

“Dude, that would be so expensive,” Monty argued, as Harper leaned onto his shoulder.

“Also, I’m really not that invested in Renaissance fairs to do this for the rest of my life,” Raven added in with a smirk.

“Well, we’d have one of the nerds run it,” Jasper explained, gesturing toward Roan and Bellamy.

“How the fuck am I nerd?” Roan grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Do you even know what it’s like to go to a museum with you? You know more about medieval weaponry than any sane person could ever need to know,” Clarke teased, and Bellamy burst out laughing.

Jasper sat up and made his best Roan face, “It’s called an arbalest, Jasper,” he said in his fake Roan voice, earning a chuckle from everyone. “And this isn’t even one of the good ones.”

“I do not sound like that,” Roan said, leaning forward to wag his finger at Jasper.

“A mancatcher isn’t a way to get a husband, Jasper,” he continued, lowering his voice even deeper. “You use it to drag people off their horses.”

“It’s not my fault that you can’t read the damn descriptions,” Roan mumbled.

“I was just saying that if someone was in need of getting a husband, that little device would be super handy,” Jasper explained.

Bellamy leaned down to whisper in Clarke’s ear, “I study this shit and I have no idea what this nerd is talking about.” Clarke started giggling, before covering her face when Roan shot her a dirty look.

“It’s like the swiss army knife of old weapons,” Jasper said in his Roan voice again, and Miller spat out his drink and started pointing at Roan with a huge smile on his face.

“Oh my God, I thought I was the only person he went on that rant to!” he said excitedly. Roan let out a very loud groan.

“I was just trying to explain what the lantern shield actually was, you dumbass,” he grumbled. “In terms even your little mind could understand.” Jasper burst out laughing, grabbing onto Miller’s arm as he leaned over.

“Why the fuck would we ever need to know any of this?” Miller asked, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Alright, let’s stop piling on Roan,” Raven jumped in, and Roan let out a breath.

“I also have a Bellamy impression I’ve been working on,” Jasper said with a smile, and Bellamy clenched his jaw.

 

They stayed at the tavern until around midnight, as most people stumbled back to the apartments to get some sleep. Bellamy walked Clarke to her door and kissed her forehead.

“Are you sleeping in my room tonight?” he asked, leaning his shoulder against the wall by her door.

“Yeah, just want to change first,” she explained as she unlocked the door.

When she was in her room, she laid down on her bed for a moment. She was a little bit tipsy and was warm all over. It was a really weird day, she thought to herself. The opening day had been a mess, start to finish. Cage was acting weird, which she now knew was because he knew about the fair closing. And Bellamy had acted so strange when she went to check on him. He was rambling a lot, like he couldn’t keep his thoughts straight.

She got up to take all the flowers out of her hair, before brushing the tangles out. Then, she changed into a t-shirt and shorts, before throwing her shoes on and walking out the door.

She saw Wells pacing in the walkway, on the phone. She walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to flinch. He pointed to the phone and mouthed “dad” and Clarke nodded, walking away. She knew that they had a difficult relationship, which she of all people could understand. She would ask him questions about their conversation later, she told herself as she walked past him toward Bellamy’s apartment.

She ignored how Roan winked at her as she walked through their living room toward Bellamy’s room. Bellamy was already in bed, on his phone typing something. She slipped her shoes off and crawled in bed next to him.

“Oh, hi,” he whispered, not even looking up as he smiled at her. She slid closer to him, leaning her head so that she could see what he was doing on his phone. He was looking at apartments.

“You haven’t found a place for Octavia yet? I thought I sent you over some of the complexes I recommended,” she said, wondering how they haven’t picked a place yet. School started in a month and it wasn’t like Bellamy to not be on top of taking care of Octavia.

“No, she’s already set. This is for me,” he explained, before putting his phone down on the table next to him. Clarke looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Why are you looking for a place near Ark U?” she asked, trying to recall if they ever had a conversation where they discussed this. As far as she knew, they hadn’t.

Bellamy leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling, and let out a sigh. “Did you really think I wouldn’t try to live in the same city as you?” he said very quietly, and Clarke swallowed. “Especially when my sister is going to be living there, too,” he continued, turning his head to look at Clarke.

Clarke nodded, not entirely sure what to say. She knew he had friends back home that he would have to say goodbye to, and she felt her stomach drop at the thought that he was doing that because of her.

“Sorry I haven’t talked to you about it,” he added, studying Clarke’s face closely.

“Are you sure you want to move?” she asked, her mind overflowing with questions about what all he could possibly be leaving behind. At the beginning of the summer, Bellamy had no intention of moving to be with Octavia, saying that he didn’t want to be all up in her business all the time. It made Clarke nervous to think about what caused him to change his mind.

“Do you not want me to?” he asked, voice low, as he raised his eyebrow.

“I only want you to if you really want to,” she whispered, turning her face back into his chest, avoiding looking into his eyes anymore. Bellamy let out a sigh, and Clarke pressed her lips together.

“I was really angry today,” he finally said, causing Clarke to jump. He looked down at her, before turning his head back toward the ceiling. “Furious that because of Wallace I wasn’t going to get to spend my summers like this anymore,” he explained, and Clarke nodded.

“I get that.”

“I’m so happy with my life at this exact moment,” he whispered, pulling Clarke in a bit closer, causing her to blush. “And hearing that news made me think that I was going to lose this. Then, I remembered, I don’t have to,” he continued, tilting Clarke’s head up to look at him.

“Bellamy,” she said, not entirely sure what to say to that.

“I may not get to have the same job anymore, or spend every second of the day with Roan and Miller anymore. But, I could still end every day like this, with you.” His thumb was tracing over her lips, sending chills up her spine. His eyes were so focused on hers, and Clarke felt like she could melt right there. She leaned up, and Bellamy met her half way, pressing his lips softly onto hers.

“Okay,” she whispered against his lips, and he chuckled softly, before rolling her onto her back and kissing down her neck.

 

Wallace was pissed off, and no one had a clue why. He ripped apart Bellamy for being sloppy with how they put up the equipment after each joust, even though it made no sense to pack everything up after each joust when they would just have to unpack it again in an hour. He got onto Clarke about the stage transitions, and gave her a lecture about making sure the theater looked professional. She had no idea what he said to Octavia, but it was enough to make everyone afraid to go near the tavern for the rest of the day.

“Maybe something is going on at home,” Wells suggested, and Roan groaned in response.

“Or maybe he’s just a dick,” Roan said with a pissed off look on his face. Wallace had told Roan that he wasn’t pleasant enough to the customers, which did not make Roan any more pleasant.

“It’ll work itself out,” Wells reassured, and Clarke raised her eyebrow at him. Wells was a kind person, of course. But, it wasn’t like him to be this optimistic about Wallace. He bitched about their boss as much as everyone else.

Wells and Roan were helping her fix the collapsed tents at the back of the fair, hoping to hide out from Wallace for a bit longer. He rarely ever came back there, since it was such a hike from his office. And, it gave them a safe space to vent about him.

“Like if he was just tired of running it, he could have given it to his damn son,” Roan groaned, and Clarke cringed at the idea of Cage running Medici Magic.

“We don’t know if that’s why he’s shutting it down,” Wells reminded, and this time Clarke groaned.

“It’s a pretty safe bet,” she said, earning a grunt of approval from Roan. Then, she saw Wallace hiking up toward them. “What the fuck,” she muttered.

“Jaha!” Wallace yelled, and Roan and Clarke shared a look, wondering what Wells could have possibly done to earn being chewed out by him.

“Yes, sir?” Wells said, walking over to meet him.

“Might I have a word with you?” Wallace asked with a small smile, which creeped Clarke out. That man never smiled. Wells nodded, before taking off to talk to Wallace.

“Is Wallace about to murder my boyfriend?” Roan asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Probably not. He had no problem bitching us all out in front of witnesses. Wells is probably fine,” she said, mostly just trying to reassure herself.


	32. Fair and Square

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I stayed up late to get this one out. Lots of Bellarke fluff, and some actual plot lol. Just one more chapter after this one!
> 
> Again, thank you all for your support. It's really meant a lot to me. This has been such a fun fic for me to write. Let me know what you think! And, as always, you can come find me on tumblr, I'm asroarke there too.

“Absolutely not,” Clarke said, crossing her arms. Bellamy groaned, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu.

“Please, princess,” he pleaded, tilting her head up to look at him. He knew she loved it when she did that. Her entire face softens every time he touches her like that. He wasn’t being fair, and he knew it. But, he needed Clarke to help him out.

“You know I hate doing it,” she muttered, looking over at the princess costume hanging up in the corner of the arena tent.

“I thought you were fine with being my princess,” he teased, and Clarke clenched her jaw, narrowing her eyes at him.

“It has a fucking corset!” she shouted, begrudgingly walking over, and picking it up.

“Thank you!” he shouted at her, and she mumbled a few insults as she went to go change. He got out his phone to text Bree that he had gotten Clarke to fill in for her, since she had a doctor’s appointment to get to.

“I hate you,” Clarke mumbled, as it sounded like she was squeezing into the corset.

Bellamy chuckled. “You adore me,” he reminded her, with a huge grin on his face.

“You’re putting me back in this damn dress,” she snapped, and Bellamy kept chuckling.

“You’re beautiful in that dress.”

“Don’t try to sweet talk your way out of this,” she grumbled, stepping out in the very pink dress. Bellamy knew how much she hated it and how princess-y it looked, but she really looked fantastic in it.

“Don’t forget your tiara, princess,” he teased, and Clarke threw her shoe at him.

 

Miller was a little bit off during the joust, which was fine since Bellamy was supposed to win anyways. Clarke struggled not to roll her eyes when she had to announce he was advancing, which made him smirk.

As Lincoln and Murphy began, he nudged Clarke, and she wouldn’t even look at him. “Gonna tell me that you hope I fall off my horse this time?” he teased, reminding her of the last time he made her do this.

“You’re just lucky I’m not the one with a lance,” she muttered, letting a small smile start to form on her lips.

“Oh, you wouldn’t hurt me,” he said, reaching down to grab her hand and kiss it. He heard a couple of ooohs behind him from a few audience members who stopped watching the joust to watch him and Clarke.

“I once slapped you,” she reminded, letting her hand linger in his hand, clearly not that mad at him.

“Yeah, well, I did let the entire staff think you and I were sleeping together, which in a Renaissance fair is a total party foul,” he joked, and Clarke burst out laughing.

Murphy won the joust, which Bellamy always hated because he got so smug about it. He groaned.

“Go get back on your horse,” Clarke ordered, and Bellamy raised an eyebrow.

“Anything for you, princess,” he teased, kissing Clarke on the cheek, earning a few more oohs from the audience. Bellamy realized that more and more people were paying attention to them now that Murphy’s joust was over.

Murphy rode up to where they were standing, raising an eyebrow. “What? Should we joust for Clarke’s hand or something?” he joked, and Clarke immediately crossed her arms.

“You are ridiculous,” she muttered, turning around to walk away.

“So, you’re cool with that?” Bellamy teased, and she shot him a dirty look.

“If I had known we were fighting for Clarke, I would have tried harder,” Miller teased, and Clarke threw up her hands out of frustration, before heading back to the microphone.

“Will you let me win this one?” Bellamy asked Murphy, expecting him to shoot him down. Murphy rarely let anyone else win, despite what the choreography dictated.

“Yeah, I don’t want to win Clarke. She’s scary when she’s mad… and she’s mad a lot,” Murphy replied, before riding over to his side of the arena.

He shot Clarke a wink before taking off toward Murphy. He could faintly see her throwing her arms in the air out of the corner of his eye, making him smirk a bit. As he rode toward Murphy, he noticed he put his lance in his left hand, which meant that Bellamy wouldn’t even have to hit him that hard to win this one.

As he knocked Murphy back, he made a mental note to thank him for this later.

 

Clarke announced his victory, earning a roar of applause from the crowd. She turned around to face Bellamy, and he knew he looked so smug at that moment.

“Murphy was supposed to win this one,” she whispered with a smile, no doubt knowing that the crowd was still watching her.

“We were fighting for your hand, princess,” he teased, and she clenched her jaw. He leaned down and kissed the top of her hand, before moving down to kiss her fingers, holding it for just a little too long.

“Children,” she mumbled, shooting Murphy a side glare.

“Shouldn’t you be bestowing a favor upon your champion?” Bellamy teased, and Clarke pulled her hand away abruptly.

Miller stepped forward to the mic to announce the arena schedule for the rest of the day, as Clarke handed him her ribbon, still narrowing her eyes at him.

He grabbed her hand as she tried to give it to him, and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

Bellamy had always thought this was cheesy. He remembered the first time he learned about Lancelot and how he fell for Guinevere, thinking it was cliché how the knight always fell for the beautiful princess or queen. He hated how Lancelot’s story ended, not caring much for his little love story and only wanting to learn about how he was the greatest fighter in Camelot. Lancelot fell from grace because he fell in love, and he could never understand that.

But, now he was holding Clarke’s hand and he understood. He would do absolutely anything for her.

“Bell?” she asked, snapping him out of it. People were starting to exit the arena, and Miller and Murphy started heading back to the tent. “Are you okay?” Her eyebrows were furrowed, studying his face intently. Oh, he realized, she was worried. He nodded, blinking a few times to get his head back in order. “Bellamy,” she said more sternly, and he couldn’t help but smile. He put his hand on her waist and pulled her toward him, before crashing his lips into hers.

She resisted for half a second, before relaxing and letting the kiss happen. He smiled against her lips, and then heard someone whistle at them.

He looked up to see some guy in the audience giving him a huge thumbs-up, while a few more people who had been walking out, turned around to start cheering.

“There are children here!” Murphy yelled at them from across the arena, and Bellamy shot him a glare, before leaning down and kissing Clarke again.

When he finally pulled away, he noticed that there were several people in the audience who still hadn’t left the arena, which made him blush. “You are so cheesy,” Clarke muttered, and he grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the tents.

“I won your hand fair and square, Clarke,” he reminded, and she groaned.

 

“You wanted to see me?” he asked Wallace, as he walked into his office. He had been summoned earlier that day, and he finally had a long enough break to go talk to Wallace. He assumed this would be the conversation where he officially told him that Medici Magic was shutting down. Then, he noticed a man he had never seen before sitting next to Wallace as he waved Bellamy in.

“Yes, let me introduce you to Thelonious Jaha,” Wallace said, and the man stood up and reached his hand out to shake Bellamy’s hand. His name sounded familiar.

“Dante tells me that you’re quite the history buff,” the man said with a smile, and Bellamy shot Wallace a confused look.

“Yes, I’m hoping to get my masters in history next year,” Bellamy explained, sitting down on the couch across from where they were sitting.

“Wells had told me that, I believe,” he said, and suddenly it clicked in his head: this had to be Wells’ dad.

“What brings you to Medici Magic?” Bellamy asked, shooting Wallace a confused glance, but Wallace seemed disinterested.

“Several reasons, mostly my own curiosity,” he explained, leaning back in his chair. “My goddaughter, Clarke, told me such great stories about this place and now Wells is falling in love with this place, so I had to see it for myself.”

“Clarke is your goddaughter?” he asked, not sure why this information shocked him so much. He knew that Wells’ and Clarke’s families were close… but he didn’t realize just how close.

“Bellamy just started dating Miss Griffin,” Wallace added in, and Thelonious raised an eyebrow at that.

“You’re quite the lucky man, Bellamy,” he said, narrowing his eyes at him. He did not like how this man was sizing him up.

“Yes, I know.”

“Anyways, I thought the two of you should meet since you will be working closely together next summer,” Wallace explained, and Bellamy’s head shot up in confusion.

“I was told Medici Magic was being shut down,” he said quietly, trying to understand what had changed in the past two weeks. Wallace had never confirmed to anyone that he was shutting it down, but they could all tell it was going to soon be over. Everyone had been moping around the fair as if it was already over.

“It was,” Wallace explained. “Then, Mr. Jaha made an offer, and after next week it will be his.” Bellamy narrowed his eyes at Jaha, who had a smug look about him. Wallace got up and started toward the door. “I will give you two a few moments alone to discuss this,” he said, before shutting the door behind him.

“You look confused,” Jaha observed, and Bellamy leaned back and crossed his arms.

“Why would you buy this place?” he asked, careful to not make his tone sound too accusatory.

“I didn’t want to, at first. It seemed like a silly investment that wouldn’t make me much money,” he said bluntly, and Bellamy could feel himself grip the couch a little too aggressively. “But, my late wife was a history professor. And Wells and I have been looking for a way to honor her memory. I would like to build onto what you all have here.”

“Build onto a travelling Renaissance fair?” he asked, skeptical of everything that was coming out of this man’s mouth.

“Well, for starters, by this time next year I would like to expand it into being a year-round travelling fair. But, more importantly, I want it to have more educational components so that it could be part of local school’s curriculums.”

Bellamy sat there in silence for a few moments, trying to process the words that were coming out of his mouth. This man wanted to turn this place around so that it would actually teach children about history, instead of just being a place that bored teenagers went to during the summer.

“Was this your idea?”

“No, it was Wells’. He and his mother were very close, and he thought this kind of thing would be exactly what she would be passionate about. I eventually agreed.”

Bellamy nodded, looking down at the ground. “So, are you having this talk with all of the staff?”

“Probably not. I really just wanted to get to know you, since you have been here for so long and seem to have a passion for history. I really don’t know much about how this place works, and I would like to entrust the inner workings of Medici Magic to someone who actually knows what they are doing.”

Bellamy’s head shot up. This man was offering him a job.

 

“What is your news?” Clarke asked for the thousandth time, as he nearly dragged her toward the arena by the wrist.

“I will tell you in a second,” he said again, excited to tell her about Jaha’s plan for Medici Magic. He wanted Clarke to be the first person to know.

She pulled her hand out from his grasp and stood in the middle of the path and crossed her arms. “Tell me now,” she ordered, looking stern, and apparently ignoring all of the customers who were passing them with confused expressions.

“Clarke, I will tell you in a minute,” he said, practically begging as he gestured to the arena with his head.

“Why can’t you just tell me now?”

“Please stop being difficult,” he groaned, not wanting to get into a fight before he got to tell her the big news.

“Bellamy, I am not being difficult. You know I love you, but you have got to stop being this frustrating,” she snapped, and Bellamy swears his heart stopped in that exact moment.

He blinked a few times, trying to make sure he heard her correctly.

Clarke Griffin just said that she loved him.

And based on her face, she didn’t even realize what she just said. He surged toward her, gripping her face with both his hands, and pressing his lips hard against hers. She moaned in protest, but he persisted until she melted into it.

Then, he rested his forehead against hers, not letting her go yet. “You love me?” he asked with a soft smile, and Clarke’s face immediately turned red.

“Bellamy, I---“

“I love you, too,” he interrupted, and Clarke’s jaw dropped slightly. He smirked, before kissing her lightly on her lips. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him even closer, as she crashed her lips against his. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, and he gripped her waist.

Then, he heard the sound of clapping… a lot of clapping. He pulled away and looked up. They were surrounded by customers who stopped walking and stood around them applauding and cheering. He looked back at Clarke, whose face was bright red, before nodding at the people who just awkwardly witnessed the first time he said “I love you” to Clarke. He swallowed, before pulling her by the hand toward the arena. “We have got to start watching our PDA at work,” he joked awkwardly, as he pulled her away from the crowd.

“Wait, what was your news?” Clarke asked, pulling him back so that he couldn’t walk forward anymore. He let out a sigh. Of course, she wasn’t going to wait until they were completely in private.

“Medici Magic isn’t closing,” he said, seeing Clarke’s face light up.

“What?” she shouted, pushing him on the chest. He shushed her a little bit, before pulling her behind the face painting tent, so no one could see them.

“Wells’ dad bought it,” he explained, before pushing Clarke up against one of the trees, and kissing her again.

She pulled away slightly. “Why would he do that?”

Bellamy groaned. “Do you really want to talk about Jaha’s financial decisions right now? Or would you rather focus on the fact that I love you and you love me,” he whispered against her lips, and she relaxed against the tree, letting that small smile come back into focus.

“You love me,” she whispered, and he started kissing down her neck.

“So damn much,” he said into her skin, voice low. She let out a light moan, running her fingers through his hair. It felt so good, he thought. He wondered how he went so long without knowing what her touch felt like. His body felt on fire when she put her soft hands on him, and he just melted into her. She smelled so good, and felt so warm. Her kisses made him feel drunk. The way she talked in her sleep made his heart skip a beat.

He loved Clarke Griffin, more than anything.


	33. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last chapter of Medici Magic! It's more of an epilogue, since I wanted to do a two-year jump to show you guys how everyone worked out after that summer.
> 
> Anyways, I've had a lot of fun writing this fic. It's only the second one I've ever written, but I feel like I've learned a lot by working on this one this summer. Thank you for all the love and support, I definitely needed it. Whenever I'm feeling down, I reread the comments from this fic and from Matched to cheer myself up. You guys are so wonderful and I love you.
> 
> I'm already planning my next fic, which is going to be very different from this one and Matched. It's gonna be a lot of angst, and a lot less fluff. We'll see how that goes lol. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think! Come find me on tumblr, where I am also asroarke. I'd love to hear from you guys, if you want to vent about the hiatus or give me fic ideas, whatever!
> 
> Thanks again!!!

_Two Years Later_

“You can just feel the snobbiness in the air,” Octavia groaned, helping Bellamy put up the last tent. He let out a sigh. He knew when he took this job that Thelonious would put Alpha Station on the list of places they visited each year, since that is where he is from. That didn’t mean that he had to like being here.

“That’s enough, O,” he groaned, putting stakes into the ground. Since Medici Magic expanded, he hadn’t gotten to spend as much time with Octavia, since she spent the school year at Ark U, and he was travelling all the time. He was thankful that summer had finally begun so that she could join him for a few stops on the tour. She would visit the fair throughout the year, which Bellamy liked to think was so she could spend time with him and Clarke… but he knew better. She was there for Lincoln, who Bellamy begrudgingly put in charge of the arena.

“You know you were thinking it,” she snapped, and Bellamy pressed his lips together, nodding slightly.

“I promised Clarke I would be on my best behavior,” he muttered, and Octavia started chuckling.

“It’s just the two of us. And she hates it here as much as the rest of us,” Octavia reminded him, and he let out a sigh. She was right, which he hated to admit. Clarke was just as annoyed to be there as the rest of the team. She had been acting weird since they arrived in Alpha Station two days ago, which he assumed was because she was tense about being in the same city as her mother and her new husband. Bellamy had officially met Abby Griffin just six months prior, after begging Clarke for a year and a half to let him meet her only family. And after that meeting, neither him nor Clarke were particularly excited about spending a month in the same town as her.

“Ah, there you two are,” he heard someone behind him say, and he turned around to see Thelonious and Wells Jaha walking up toward him.

“My dad and I were just discussing if we should continue setting everything up when it is supposed to storm all afternoon,” Wells explained, a little bit nervous as he kept looking at his dad for a sign that he was doing alright. Bellamy had been in charge of day-to-day operations, but Jaha left his son in charge of scheduling and advertising. He didn’t expect it, but he and Wells worked really well together. Wells stayed out of his way when it came to how the fair operated, and Bellamy appreciated all of Wells’ fresh ideas. Wells had been nervous all last week as they packed up from Arkadia, probably because this was the first time his father would really be observing how Medici Magic was working now. But, as Bellamy told Wells repeatedly, he had nothing to worry about. He was a natural, and was making Medici Magic a better place to work every day.

“Everything we’ve set up would survive a little storm,” Octavia said, a little bit annoyed. Bellamy shot her a stern look, as if to remind her that their boss was literally right there.

“I’m not saying to halt setting up the infrastructure of the fair. I was just saying we shouldn’t unload everything, since we have limited time to set it up today,” Wells elaborated, standing a little bit straighter. Jaha nodded, before turning around toward the theater. Wells let out a sigh as soon as Jaha was out of earshot.

“Doing okay, buddy?” Bellamy teased, and Wells groaned.

“I don’t know how I can do a month of this,” he muttered, shaking his head.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Octavia said with a teasing grin as she patted his back. “When today is over, we all get to go to a fancy party and feel awkward for a few hours,” she reminded him with a smirk, causing him to groan even louder.

“Well, you guys will get a horrifying glance at how Clarke and I grew up,” he muttered, before walking away. Bellamy started shaking his head, as Octavia began cackling.

 

Bellamy was sitting in his car with Miller, who he had just picked up from the airport, when the storm actually hit. Clarke begged him to let Miller just take a taxi, but Bellamy ignored her, and was starting to regret it.

“Just my fucking luck,” Miller groaned, as Bellamy had to slow down even more so he could actually see the highway. This was the first time Bellamy had gotten to see Miller since Christmas, yet it somehow felt like he just saw him this morning. A lot of his friends hadn’t stayed at Medici Magic, which Bellamy couldn’t really blame them for. It was one thing to be a summer job, but it was a whole other level of commitment to do this all year long. Miller had decided to work there only during the summers. Harper and Monty didn’t come back at all, but they seemed really happy with their new house out in Mt. Weather. Murphy kept working there for a year, but then met some girl named Emori and took off. They were married three weeks later, which he and Clarke were so amused by. Raven would randomly show up every now and then and work for a few weeks, before taking off again. He and Clarke had a bet going about if she would show up that night, even though they hadn’t heard from her in two months.

“You’re telling me. I just paid for a carwash. I could have just waited two days and my car would have been clean,” he groaned.

“Fuck, I’m not sure if I packed a suit,” Miller muttered, throwing his head back into the headrest.

“I guarantee Wells will have you covered,” Bellamy said, remembering Wells’ little speech about dress code for his father’s party with a smirk.

“How’s Clarke?” he asked, changing the subject.

“She’s good. A little tense about being back in Alpha Station, you know,” he said. “How’s Jackson?”

“A little bit pissed at me for not spending my whole summer by the beach with him,” he joked, and Bellamy let out a loud chuckle. “Please tell me there’s going to be booze tonight.”

Bellamy nodded, refraining from pointing out that it’ll probably all be champagne and wine, and not the beer that the two of them liked to chug like water.

 

“You look fine,” Bellamy groaned, throwing himself back onto the bed, as Clarke furrowed her eyebrows. She let out a groan, before unzipping the dress she just put on. Bellamy threw his hands in the air out of frustration, just wanting Clarke to pick a dress to wear and to stick with it. She grabbed the blue one off the hanger, and Bellamy bit his tongue so he wouldn’t point out that this dress was the first one she put on.

“If you tell me I look fine one more time,” she muttered, shimmying into the dress.

“What’s wrong with saying you look fine?” he asked, standing up to help her zip up the back.

“The only correct answer when I ask you how I look is, ‘you look beautiful.’ Got it?” she said with a stern look, wagging her finger at him as he zipped the dress all the way to the top.

He grabbed her by the waist and pushed her hair to her other shoulder. He kissed her cheek and whispered, “You look beautiful.”

She turned around with a smile on her face, and gave him a peck on the lips. “Much better,” she said, before going to get her shoes on.

“Tonight is going to be fine,” he reassured, and she nodded absently. He had been worried about how she would handle being back in Alpha Station. When they made the decision to stop here on the tour, he told her repeatedly that she didn’t have to come for that part. She was only working for the fair part time, anyways, so that she could spend most of her day working on her art. It wouldn’t be hard for Bellamy to cover her art history tours at the fair. But, she insisted, even last week when he gave her one last out.

“Ready?” he asked, once she got her shoe on, and held his arm out to her. She linked her arm with his, and they walked out the door.

 

Clarke owed him twenty bucks, he thought to himself, as Raven strolled into Thelonious Jaha’s obscenely huge home. She immediately went to grab a drink, and started talking to Jasper and Maya. He had heard that she and Luna didn’t work out, but Jasper also said that he could see them working themselves out anyways. He made a mental note not to ask Raven about that, though.

Bellamy was standing with Lincoln, trying to avoid making any more conversation with Clarke’s mother. He hadn’t seen Clarke in a while, but last he saw her, she was dragging Roan and Wells off into another room to talk to them.

“I think Jasper is already drunk,” Lincoln joked, and Bellamy glanced over to see him start hiccupping. Yes, Jasper was most definitely drunk. So much for acting refined tonight, he thought to himself.

“Can’t really blame him,” Bellamy muttered into his drink, as Clarke appeared out of nowhere and started walking over to him.

“Clarke, please tell me this wasn’t what it was always like growing up here,” Lincoln said, practically groaning.

“I wish I could say that,” she said with a small grin, and Bellamy put his arm around her, pulling her closer. Lincoln nodded, before walking off, probably to go find Octavia.

“You okay?” Bellamy asked, and she nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. “What were you talking to Roan and Wells about?”

“Oh, you know, just venting about my mom,” she said with a strange expression on her face, and Bellamy had a feeling she was lying. He had gotten the feeling that something was up with her lately, but every time he brought it up, she just blew it off. And maybe he was reading into it too much. But, he was terrified that something more serious was going on, and it was concerning that he wasn’t on the list of people that she talked to about it.

As if on cue, Abby and Marcus came over to them, and Bellamy downed the rest of his glass before they got to them.

“Oh, Bellamy, would you like me to grab you another drink?” Marcus asked, trying a little too hard for Bellamy’s taste. Bellamy nodded, trying to throw the guy a bone. It couldn’t be easy being in his shoes, especially with how angry Clarke still is about their marriage. “What about you, Clarke? I can grab you a drink, too.”

“Oh, no. I’m good. Thank you, though,” Clarke said, a little too quickly, which he assumed was because of how stressed she was being here. Marcus nodded, still forcing a smile, as he walked over to the bar.

“Are you two having a good time?” Abby asked, and Bellamy tried to ignore how the pursed her lips when she looked at him.

“Yes, Miss Griffin. It’s a really wonderful party,” he said in his nicest voice possible, remembering how he promised Clarke that he would behave this time.

“Clarke?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“It’s one of his best parties,” Clarke finally said, gripping Bellamy’s hand a little too tightly. “It was so sweet of him to throw this for us,” she added in, probably noticing that Thelonious was gravitating toward them.

“Abigail!” he said, pulling Clarke’s mother into a huge hug. Bellamy didn’t dislike Jaha. He was a decent boss and let him kind of do whatever he wanted, without being as grumpy as Wallace. But, when he saw Jaha and Abby together, it made him oddly uncomfortable. They just seemed like they were from another world altogether. Then, he reminded himself that Clarke was from that same world. And so was Wells. “Ah, Bellamy, I was just looking for you,” he said, pulling away from Abby.

“And here I am, hiding in plain sight,” Bellamy joked, earning a chuckle from Thelonious. Abby maneuvered around Jaha, to come stand next to Clarke. Marcus came back carrying Bellamy’s drink, that he started sipping a little too quickly.

“I wanted to ask you how you think the fair would survive without you for a few weeks,” Jaha started, and Bellamy saw Clarke’s head shoot up to look at him.

“I feel like we have a good staff of people right now who could handle me not being there for a while. Why do you ask?” he replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, a couple of friends of mine asked me if I knew of anyone who could present what we’ve been doing at Medici Magic to a conference. Wells would have done it, but it is scheduled for when he and Roan were planning their honeymoon,” he explained. Bellamy furrowed his eyebrows, not entirely sure he wanted to be a presenter at a conference. But, it was important that they were very vocal about Medici Magic so that it could keep growing.

“It’s in March?” Clarke asked, taking Bellamy by surprise. He wasn’t aware she was even listening to their conversation. He glanced at her, and she was biting her lip.

“Yes, and it’s going to last two weeks,” Jaha answered, and Bellamy let out a sigh. It was probably for the best that he agreed to do this, since there was no one else on his staff that was knowledgeable about what they were doing to give the presentation.

“Sounds like a great opportunity,” Bellamy said with a smile, and Clarke shot him a confused look.

“Well, maybe we should talk about this,” she said with a concerned tone, which caught him off guard. She of all people should understand why he needed to do this.

 

He had continued talking to Jaha for a while, occasionally being interrupted by Marcus or Abby with weirdly supportive compliments about what he was doing. Clarke had taken off in a huff when he blew off her request to go talk about it first, which he was feeling really anxious about. Clarke had a tendency to run off when she was mad at him, but for the first time in a long time, he really had no idea why she was so mad.

He set out to find her, getting slightly lost in Jaha’s huge house. He accidentally walked in on Roan and Wells making out, which he hoped they would all laugh about later. He finally found Clarke sitting in one of the hallways toward the back of the house. At least, Bellamy thinks they were in the back of the house. He was having a hard time figuring out exactly where he was, after feeling like he had walked in circles for twenty minutes.

“What’s wrong, princess?” he asked, sitting down next to her and grabbing her hand. She set her chin on his shoulder, with a slight pout.

“It might not be a great idea for you to be out of town in March,” she said, pressing her lips together.

“What’s going on, Clarke?” he asked, kissing her forehead. He wasn’t used to Clarke acting like this. The last two years that they had been together had gone so smoothly. Sure, they fought all the time, but it was always over stupid stuff, and almost always ended in sex. The only time they really fought was over letting him meet her mother for the first time, which compared to the fights they had when they first started working together, really wasn’t a big deal.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out, looking up at him with wide eyes, probably trying to gage his reaction. He swallowed, processing what Clarke just told him.

He could feel his heart start pounding, just like it did when he first kissed her, or when she said she loved him, or when the first moved in together, or when Clarke said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. They hadn’t talked about kids yet, or not really. They would both get a little baby crazy when people brought their infants to the fair, and gush over how many kids they wanted. But, they had never said they were ready for a baby.

He took a deep breath, before realizing that Clarke was waiting for him to say something. He let his thumb trace her cheek, as it finally hit him: _they were having a baby._

He pulled her into a soft kiss, and she whimpered into his mouth as he pulled her in closer by her waist. “I love you,” he whispered against her lips.

“I love you,” she whispered back, eyes still focused as if she still wasn’t sure how he felt. How could she not know that this would be the best news he would ever hear?

“We’re having a baby, Clarke,” he said, forehead now pressed against hers, grinning like an idiot. He could feel her loosen up, as if his excitement was all she needed to let go of this tension.

“Are you happy? I know we weren’t planning on this,” she said, with slight concern on her face.

“I’m the most happy,” he reassured, brushing her hair out of her face. He kissed her forehead, and she started grinning again.

“Want to get out of here?” she asked with a devious smile, causing Bellamy’s throat to suddenly feel dry.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

 

“Bellamy,” Clarke sleepily groaned. He had thought she had fallen asleep, which was the only reason he leaned down to kiss her stomach again.

“Sorry, princess,” he whispered with a grin, as he went ahead and kissed her stomach again.

“I literally just told you about the baby. I’m not even showing yet,” she mumbled, rolling over on her side, putting her back to him. He rolled his eyes, before putting his arms around her, pressing his chest to her back. He kissed her cheek.

“Don’t care. I’m already obsessed,” he said with a smile. His thumb was stroking her stomach, as he thought about what Clarke would look like when she started showing.

“Yeah?” Clarke said, turning her head to look at him with a smile.

“Is it too early to start arguing about baby names?” he asked, and she immediately scrunched her nose.

“Whoever wins next trivia night can pick out the name,” Clarke mumbled, turning back around. He moved her hair out of the way of her neck, before leaning down to kiss it.

“Absolutely not. I’ve been on a losing streak ever since I teamed up with Murphy a year ago,” he groaned, and Clarke started laughing.

“Your bad luck charm left. Not a great excuse,” she teased, and he rolled his eyes. “Maybe I’ll make you joust someone for the honor of naming the child,” she joked, and Bellamy snorted.

“One, that’s not how we are deciding our baby’s name. Two, I’m never jousting again.”

“You’re just mad that a girl knocked you off your horse,” Clarke mumbled, starting to sound sleepy again.

“It was a cheap shot, and I’ll never forgive Echo for it,” he reminded her, and she started chuckling. God, her laugh was so beautiful, he thought.

“I love you,” she mumbled, before turning around to tuck her head into his neck. He snaked an arm around her, as her hand rested on his chest.

He grabbed her hand and kissed the fingertips. “And I love you,” he whispered, noticing a small smile form on Clarke’s sleepy face. He closed his eyes, thinking back to the first day he met Clarke and how they hated each other. He tried not to laugh, thinking back on all the things that Jasper and Roan added to that damn list.

“Clarke?”

“Yeah?”

“What are we going to do about the fair? We can’t keep travelling this much with a baby,” he said, his mind started to panic about how their life would have to change now.

“We’ll figure it out,” she whispered sleepily, kissing his neck softly, before turning her head back onto his chest. Yeah, we’ll figure it out, he thought to himself. He leaned his head on top of hers, letting out a breath. They were going to be okay.

They survived all the craziness of getting Medici Magic where it is. They managed to fall in love, even though they hated each other at first. They would find a way to make this work.

He closed his eyes, playing the story of how they fell in love over and over in his head, until he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head, Bellamy and Clarke keep working at Medici Magic for like another four years, while each of the delinquents take turns throughout the day watching little Griffin Blake. And he's like an insanely smart kid, who likes to correct people all the time, despite only being like four. 
> 
> Then, when it's time for little Griffin Blake to start school, Bellamy and Clarke settle down, letting Roan and Wells run Medici Magic. They come back and work in the summers, and Griffin gets to spend his summers following his Uncle Roan around, asking him all sorts of questions about the Renaissance. 
> 
> And, even though most of the delinquents have moved on with their lives and gotten other jobs, they all get together on the Fourth of July at Roan's beach house.


End file.
